I ^< 
 
 A^g€x^ 
 
NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 ITS FIRST SETTLERS 
 
 AND 
 
 OLD FARMS. 
 
 C. A. WALL. 
 
NORTH WORCESTER 
 
 ITS KIRST SETTLERS 
 
 AND 
 
 OLD KARIVLS 
 
 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE CHAMBERLAIN DISTRICT FARMERS' 
 CLUB, AT THE RESIDENCE OF A. S. LOWELL, 
 NORTH WORCESTER. DEC. 6, i88q. 
 
 By CALKB A. WALL, 
 
 Author of " Reminiscences of Worcester," " Puritans vs. The Quakers," Etc. 
 
 Worcester : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1890. 
 
LOAN STACK 
 
 This is the first of a series of similar publications which the author is about to issue, 
 containing his addresses at different historic points in the territory of Worcester, compris- 
 ing accounts of the first settlers and their families, historical and genealogical, the location 
 of their estates, etc. Those to follow will include the address at Lake Park, June 15, 
 1889, giving an account of the earliest settlers west of Lake Quinsigamond; the address on 
 Pakachoag Hill, July 13; and others to be given in different sections of this city, including 
 Sagatabscot Hill, Quinsigamond Village, Tatnuck, etc., relating to their respective localities 
 in the past. The whole, bound together, will constitute a sequel or second volume' to my 
 *' Reminiscences of Worcester," published in 1877. 
 
 C. A. W. 
 
 January 1, 1890. 
 
 [Pbbss of F. S. BLANCHARD & CO.] 
 
 Copjrright, 1890. 
 
F7^ 
 
 NORTH WORCESTER :^'^ 
 
 ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 
 
 There was a gathering of unusual local historical 
 interest at the residence of A. S. Lowell, North Worcester, 
 Friday . evening, December 6, 1889, held under the 
 auspices of the Chamberlain District Farmers' Club, by 
 invitation of Mr. Lowell, to hear an address by Caleb 
 A. Wall, on the history of the first settlers and old farms 
 in that locality. 
 
 Near the railroad station here are two ancient square 
 built mansions of similar construction, erected for two 
 brothers by their father, the history of which, and of the 
 farms to which they belong, dates back to the beginning 
 of the town. 
 
 One of these old estates, that on Brattle Street, north- 
 east of the depot, has been owned and occupied about 
 two years by Mr. Lowell, who has tastefully refitted 
 the old mansion, while preserving its ancient architectural 
 features ; the other of these two old estates is that 
 owned and occupied by the family of the late J. L. Libby, 
 just south of the depot, on the east side of Holden Street, 
 the ancient house on which, also, preserves very much 
 the same architectural appearance as it possessed long 
 anterior to the days of our revolutionary sires. 
 
 At Friday evening's meeting at Mr. Lowell's, besides 
 members of the Club, whose territory includes this sec- 
 tion, numerous others interested in such matters 
 were present, including many of our prominent citizens. 
 The evening was an unusually pleasant one, with a clear 
 sky overhead, and a full moon shining brightly, adding 
 greatly to the delightfulness of the occasion. A party 
 of nearly one hundred assembled at about seven o'clock, 
 
 240 
 
4 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 and after a social half hour, were called to order in the 
 spacious parlors by P. F. Sears, Vice-President of the 
 Club, the President, Pliny Moore, coming later. At 
 7.30 p. m. Mr. Wall was introduced, and gave his address, 
 as follows : 
 
 CALEB A. WALUS ADDRESS. 
 
 One of the earliest proprietors of Worcester, at the 
 beginning of its permanent settlement, after the close of 
 Queen Anne's War, so called, in 1713, was James Knapp, 
 or Knopp, as sometimes written on the old records. He 
 came here from Newton, where he was born February 
 4, 1691. He had a grant of 250 acres of land including 
 the spot where we now are. It took in, besides the fine 
 farm of our excellent host, the adjoining and surround- 
 ing estates of James E. Fuller, C. C. Foster, Mrs. Libby, 
 Mrs. Allen, John McTammany, Charles P. Geeser, and 
 others. This was a century and three-quarters ago, when 
 Worcester was resettled after the previous devastation by 
 the Indians,^ lots then beginning to be taken up as 
 granted by the Committee of the General Court to the 
 first settlers at different points within the original 
 territory of Worcester, which included, besides what 
 is now Worcester, the present territory of Holden^t 
 and the north east quarter of Auburn. t 
 
 Before speaking further of this land of Knapp, and its 
 subsequent conveyance to and division among other 
 parties, it is proper to say something about him. He 
 was the second son of John, Jr., and Sarah (Parks) Knapp 
 of Newton, his father being the eldest son of John, Sr., 
 and Sarah (Young) Knapp of Watertown. John Knapp, 
 Sr., born in England in 1624, was a carpenter, son of 
 William Knapp, also a carpenter, a proprietor of Water- 
 town in 1636-7, who came over from England with his 
 sons, William, Jr., John and James, in 1630. 
 
 James Knapp, the original proprietor of the lands in 
 this vicinity, was thus great-grandson of the emigrant 
 ancestor, William Knapp. He married, first, April 2^ 
 
 ♦ See " Reminiscences of Worcester," pages 12-17. 
 t Ibid, pages 128-30. 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 5 
 
 1714, Elizabeth Bond, daughter of Dea. William, Jr. and 
 Hepsibah (Hastings) Bond of Watertown, by whom he had 
 a son Jonathan, born October 23, 1714, and after her death 
 January 12, 1716, he married, October 10, 1716, Mary 
 Fisk, sister of the wife of Benjamin Flagg,* an original 
 settler of Worcester, some of whose lands here were in 
 the vicinity of his own, and Knapp then came here, 
 ivhere his next five children were born, as follows 
 Abijah, October 2, 1717; Mary, December 16, 1719 
 Benjamin, August 31, 1721 ; James, Jr., October 27, 1723 
 and Elisha, December 6, 1725. James Knapp then sold 
 out all his estate in Worcester and moved away. Among 
 his subsequent children, born probably in Watertown, 
 were Elizabeth, born- May 15, 1729, and John, born 
 October 31, 1731. Of those children, Abijah went to 
 Marlborough, where he married in 1744, Abigail Ward; he 
 was in Marlborough in 1762, and went thence to Petersham 
 and afterwards to Athol. James, Jr., went to Medway. 
 and thence, in 1773, to Sturbridge, where he was in 1797. 
 John went from Worcester in 1759 to Petersham, and 
 thence in 1785 to Spencer. Benjamin was in Sturbridge 
 in 1744. 
 
 James Knapp, the father, was chosen surveyor of high- 
 ways at the first annual March town meeting in Worces- 
 ter, and he had a seat granted him in the second of the 
 sixth section of seats at the first regular or official assign- 
 ment of seats in the first meeting house on the old Common 
 in 1724. Besides the 250 acres of land in this vicinity, 
 James Knapp had a grant of land November 22, 1718, 
 by order of the General Court's Committee, of " 75 acres 
 for a second division with three acres allowance for a 
 highway four rods wide running through it, this land 
 lying on the north side of his house lot, and on the east 
 side of Mill Brook." This would indicate that James 
 Knapp did not build or settle on any part of his 250 
 acres in this vicinity, but on the lot granted to him just 
 south of the above-mentioned 75 acres granted to him in 
 1718. The location of this was near to and included the 
 site of the present residence of Edwin P. Curtis on Burn- 
 
 * See "Reminiscences," pages 106-8. 
 
6 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 coat Street. This estate, then comprising 90 acres, and 
 including all the estate James Knapp then owned in 
 Worcester, Knapp sold, March 7, 1726, to Thomas 
 Gleason, from Shrewsbury, and previously of Sudbury, 
 ancestor of the race of Gleasons afterwards so numerous 
 in the northern section of the town, of whom I shall have 
 more to say at the proper time. This Thomas Gleason, 
 who filled at different times the positions of constable, 
 highway surveyor, and tythingman, lived on that spot till 
 his decease in 1756, leaving a large family of sons and 
 daughters, this estate, to which his son Isaac succeeded, 
 passing out of the family over 75 years ago, before Mrs. 
 Curtis' s grandfather, Walter Bigelow, senior, pur- 
 chased it.* 
 
 Eichard Temple, born in Concord, in 1674, and a resi- 
 dent of Shrewsbury from 1724 to 1738, when he went 
 back to Concord, was the purchaser, before 1725, from 
 James Knapp, of the 250 acres above mentioned. He 
 made the purchase for his two sons, Joseph and William 
 Temple, and a son-in-law, William Harris, among whom 
 he divided it. Two of these being housewrights by trade 
 and the other a surveyor, they probably erected the 
 first houses upon it, two of which are still standing, 
 substantial as well as venerable specimens of ancient 
 architecture, in one of which we are now assembled. 
 September 1, 1730, Richard Temple, then a resident of 
 Shrewsbury, "for love and good will, and his advance- 
 ment in the world," etc., conveyed to his son Joseph 
 Temple, 65 acres of land, "part of the 250 acres which 
 the said Joseph Temple purchased of James Knapp, and 
 bounded on the south by that part of the 250 acres which 
 his son William Temple lived on, and on the west by that 
 part which the son-in-law lived on." At the same time 
 he deeded to his daughter Mary, wife of William Harris, 
 housewright, 50 acres, another part of the said 250 acres, 
 " for love and good will," etc.; and January 23, 1735, he 
 deeded to his son William Temple, housewright, 65 acres 
 of land, another part of said 250 acres, south of that 
 occupied by Joseph, for the same consideration of " love 
 
 * See " Reminiscences," page 45. 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLEES AND OLD FARMS. 7 
 
 and good will/' etc. This would show that these ancient 
 houses were then here. Joseph Temple's portion 
 included the spot where we now are, and this is the 
 house he built and lived in. The ancient house south of 
 this, on Holden Street, and similar to this in construction, 
 where the family of the late J. L. Libby now live, was 
 the residence of William Temple, which he built. The 
 estate of William Harris was westerly of Joseph Temple's, 
 and north-westerly of William Temple's, the ancient 
 house in which several generations of that family lived 
 having long since disappeared. 
 
 This Richard Temple was a son of Abraham and grand- 
 son of the original emigrants, Richard and Joanna 
 Temple, who were of Salem in 1648, and afterwards of 
 Concord. Neither of the Temple brothers remained 
 during their lifetime upon the estates thus given them 
 by their father. 
 
 Among the town offices filled by Joseph Temple was 
 that of field driver in 1740, hogreeve in '41, surveyor of 
 highways and juryman in '42, and constable in '52. 
 His brother, William Temple, was surveyor of highways 
 in 1736, and field driver in 1739, and in the assignment 
 of seats in the first meeting house on the old Common 
 in 1733, as described in my " Reminiscences of Worces- 
 ter," pages 113 and 114, he occupied a seat in " ye second 
 section in ye foremost gallery." William Harris was 
 surveyor of highways in 1737, '38 and '41 ; and hogreeve 
 in 1732, '33, '39, '42, '43, and '44 ; and he occupied a seat 
 in "ye second section in ye long gallery," in that old 
 meeting house. Robert Peables, whose estate the first 
 Elisha Smith purchased and resided upon, west of North 
 Pond, was assigned a seat in this first meeting house, " in 
 ye second section in ye body," as will be seen by the 
 description and plan referred to. 
 
 Joseph Temple sold out his 65 acres (including where 
 we now are) May 1, 1772, for £292, 6s. and 8d., to Levi 
 Houghton of Ashby, who lived here ten years. William 
 Temple sold out his estate, including the original portion 
 of the Libby estate south of us, March 22, 1740, for £510, 
 to Elisha Smith, from Waltham, the first one of four 
 
8 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 generations of that name who have lived on different 
 portions of that estate or the immediate vicinity, of 
 whom more will be said later. William and Mary 
 (Temple) Harris's descendants also remained on their 
 ancestral estate, or on different portions of it, west of 
 us, for several generations, an account of whom now 
 would swell this address to too great a length. 
 
 Levi Houghton sold, November 15, 1782, for £650, 
 93 1-2 acres, including the above 65 acres bought of 
 Joseph Temple, to Josiah Lyon, yeoman, of Worcester, 
 and the latter sold March 18, 1791 for £475, 88 1-2 acres 
 of this, in two tracts, including the 65 acres where we 
 are, to Simeon Fish, yeoman, from Mendon, and Mr. 
 Fish sold the same April 10, 1795, to Francis Thaxter of 
 Hingham, who conveyed it April 13, 1796, to Benjamin 
 Farrar of Abington, and the latter sold the same estate 
 April 12, 1799, to Nathan Patch, a celebrated real estate 
 owner and speculator of his time, who sold it September 
 22, 1800, to his son Joseph Patch. The next owner was 
 Joseph Daniels from Sherborn, who purchased it of the 
 Patches, November 18, 1807, for $4000. Joseph Daniels's 
 wife. Thankful, was daughter of James Penniman of 
 Medway, and sister of Abigail, wife of the first Samuel 
 Damon of Holden. Joseph Daniels died about 1820, 
 leaving his estate to his son Joseph Daniels, Jr., who 
 married Eliza Glazier, daughter of Calvin and Eliza 
 (Pierce) Glazier of Rutland. Joseph, Jr., and Eliza were 
 parents of Mrs. Lewis Thayer, now residing at No. 142 
 Lincoln Street ; of Mrs. John Mason, now residing at 
 No. 9 John Street ; of the wife of the late Loison D. 
 Towne, formerly residing at No. 10 Harvard Street ; and 
 of the late Joseph D. Daniels, whose widow resides at 
 No. 18 Harvard Street. Joseph Daniels, Jr., carried on 
 the farm for several years, till the estate, under his 
 improvident management, passed through a heavy mort- 
 gage, about 1831, into the hands of his cousin, the late 
 Col. Samuel Damon of Holden, son of the first Samuel 
 Damon, the mortgage being subject to the right of 
 dower of Thankful Daniels, the widow of Joseph Daniels, 
 Sr. The farm was managed for two years, from 1831 to 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 9 
 
 1833, by Robert S. Gleason, whose wife was a daughter 
 of Daniel Davis, the latter's wife being a daughter of 
 Francis Daniels, brother of Joseph, Sr. October 1, 1833, 
 Col. Damon, for the sum of $3500, conveyed the estate, 
 then comprising 152 acres, to Robert S. Gleason and 
 Ezekiel Newton, the latter having for two years previous 
 worked for Mr. Gleason on the farm. They managed 
 the estate together for six years, till April 15, 1839, 
 when the widow. Thankful Gleason, sold out to them her 
 right of dower and interest in the estate, where she had 
 resided for thirty years, and went to reside with her 
 grand daughter, Mrs. Robert S. Gleason, on Ararat 
 Street ; Mr. Gleason, at the same time, disposing of his 
 half of the estate to Charles Newton, a brother of Ezekiel, 
 and these two brothers then managed the old farm 
 together for six years, both residing with their respective 
 families in this house, in which both held their honey- 
 moon receptions at their marriage, Ezekiel in 1835 and 
 Charles in 1842, after coming here. The elder of these 
 two brothers, our respected veteran friend, Ezekiel 
 Newton, at my right, hale and hearty in his 78th year, 
 we are all happy to greet with us to-night, from his 
 new home in Westborough; also a younger surviving 
 brother, at my left, Abraham H. Newton, . who can 
 give many pleasant recollections of his boyhood here. 
 
 About 1846, the old farm was divided, Ezekiel Newton 
 taking the northern half, and Charles the southern half 
 extending to Ararat Street, on which latter half Charles 
 Newton built the house now occupied by architect James 
 E. Fuller ; the preceding owner of this half, which has 
 had many owners since Charles Newton sold it, about 
 1861, being our friend C. C. Foster. Ezekiel Newton 
 •owned and occupied the northern haK of this original 
 estate, including the house we are in, till 1870, when, 
 after residing here thirty-nine years, he sold it to the 
 late Charles H. Geeser, who owned and occupied it till 
 his decease, and after him his son, the present Charles P. 
 Geeser, who sold it in 1884 to Walter S. Bugbee, now of 
 Shrewsbury ; and the latter sold it in 1887 to the present 
 owner and occupant, our generous host. When Mr. 
 
10 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 Geeser sold out here, he built his present residence just 
 across the road. When Joseph Daniels, Jr., lived here, he 
 kept a store in this house for many years, where he was 
 a licensed retailer of intoxicating drinks, in accordance 
 with an old custom, unfortunately, not yet extinct in too 
 many places, though long since extinguished from this 
 locality ; and it is ardently hoped, since the glorious 
 result of the recent vote on the question by our citizens, 
 that the whole city may be redeemed from the terrible- 
 curse. 
 
 The widow. Thankful Daniels, after removing from 
 her old homestead here, in 1840, resided with her 
 grand daughter, Mrs. Robert S. Gleason, on Ararat Street, 
 where she died January 10, 1852, aged 93 years,, 
 7 months and 4 days, and was buried in Rural Cemetery. 
 Eliza G. Daniels, widow of Joseph Daniels, Jr., died Jan- 
 uary 28, 1861, aged 71 years and 7 months, at the 
 residence of her son, the late Joseph D. Daniels, on Har- 
 vard Street. 
 
 Richard^ Newton, progenitor of the Newtons in New 
 England, came from England and was one of the first 
 settlers in Sudbury in 1640, and one of the petitioners 
 for Marlborough, where he settled in 1660, in the south- 
 ern part afterwards set oif for Southborough, where and 
 in Westborough and Shrewsbury, he has descendants. 
 He died at the old homestead in Southborough, August 
 24, 1701, aged 100 years. His son Moses,^ born in 1646, 
 married in 1768 Joanna Larkin, and had in Southborough, 
 Moses,^ Jr., born in 1669, who married in 169o, Sarah 
 Howe, and their three sons, Aaron,^ Elisha,"^ and Ezekiel,* 
 were among the first settlers in Shrewsbury, where they 
 had numerous descendants. Elisha^ married in 1728, 
 Sarah Tomlin of Westborough, and had in Shrewsbury 
 twelve children, of whom the sixth son and eighth 
 child was Charles,^ born August 28, 1742, who married 
 in 1765, Tabitha Bowker of Westborough, and had in 
 Shrewsbury ^ve children, of whom Ezra^, born November 
 22, 1774, married January 28, 1812, Lucy Howe of 
 Princeton, and settled there, they being parents of the 
 above mentioned Ezekiel, Charles, and Abraham H. New- 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 11 
 
 ton. The father died with his oldest son Ezekiel, in this 
 house, April 10, 1863, while the youngest son Abraham 
 H. was a soldier in the Union Army, in company F, 51st 
 regiment, and not, as the minister said at his father's 
 funeral, " a wanderer up and down the earth." Charles 
 died about two years ago, in Millbury, and the other 
 surviving brother, Ezra, Jr., has been a resident of the 
 far west for some thirty years. 
 
 Elisha Smith, who bought in 1740 the estate of 
 William Temple, including the Libby house and the 
 original 60 acres of that estate, was son of Jonathan and 
 Jane (Peabody) Smith of Watertown, where he was born 
 January 11, 1692. Jonathan, born in 1659, was son of 
 Thomas Smith, who came to America in the summer of 
 1635, then aged 35, and settled in Watertown, where he 
 died, March 10, 1693, aged 93. He was admitted free- 
 man of the Massachusetts colony. May 17, 1637. He 
 married Mary, daughter of William Knapp, before refer- 
 red to, by whom he had nine children, born between 
 1637 and 1662, of whom Jonathan, born in 1659, was 
 father of Elisha. Elisha Smith thus bore the blood 
 relationship of second cousin to the original proprietor of 
 this land, James Knapp, both being grandsons of William 
 Knapp. This relationship may have led to the Smiths 
 coming here, Elisha Smith married, March 25, 1713, 
 Patience Brown, daughter of Captain Abraham and Mary 
 (Hyde) Brown, of that part of old Watertown, afterwards 
 Waltham, and they had there these six children : First, 
 Jonathan, born January 23, 1715, who married Novem- 
 ber 8, 1736, Susanna Stearns, daughter of Isaac and 
 Mary (Bemis) Stearns of Waltham, and sister of 
 Nathaniel Stearns of Holden. Jonathan and Susanna 
 settled in Lunenburg on 100 acres of land there, given 
 him by his father, where they had Keuben, Simon, Mary, 
 and Patience, of whom the latter married a Stiles, and 
 Jonathan died before his father. 
 
 Elisha Smith's second child. Patience, born February 
 23, 1717, married December 6, 1733, Abraham Sander- 
 son, who was born in Watertown, March 28, 1711, and 
 they also settled in Lunenberg, on seventy acres of land 
 
12 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 given them by her father, on the northern border of the 
 town, adjoining Townsend, where Abraham and Patience 
 had thirteen children, of whom the fourth one was Jacob 
 Sanderson, a minute man of the revolution, at the battle 
 of Bennington, who married in Worcester in 1760, 
 Elizabeth Child, and settled in Lunenburg on 400 acres 
 of land he purchased east of his father. The homestead 
 farm of the first Abraham Sanderson in Lunenburg is 
 still in the family, being owned and occupied by his 
 great-grandson, Richard Gilchrist, in the original gable 
 roofed house, to which many pilgrimages are made by 
 descendants of the original settler. The grave of this 
 venerable ancestor is marked by a headstone of slate in 
 the old cemetery in Lunenburg, inscribed '^Abraham 
 Sanderson, died December 4, 1776, aged 86." His wife 
 Patience lies by his side. Abraham was the second of 
 five children of Samuel and Mercy (Gale) Sanderson of 
 Watertown, grandson of Dea. Jonathan and Abiah (Bart- 
 lett) Sanderson, and great-grandson of the original 
 settlers, Edward and Mary (Eggleston) Sanderson of 
 Watertown. The name of this family was frequently 
 written in the old records Sanders, and Saunders. 
 
 Among the numerous descendants of the Jacob San- 
 derson above mentioned, is his great-grandson, our 
 esteemed fellow citizen, present with us to-night. Rev. 
 Alonzo Sanderson, pastor of Laurel Street church, whose 
 father, Jesse Sanderson, is still living in Lunenburg, hale 
 and hearty at 86. 
 
 The third child of Elisha and Patience ( Brown) Smith 
 was Elisha Smith, Jr., born June 4, 1719, who married 
 Susanna Gleason, born in 1722, the oldest of eleven 
 children of Thomas Gleason of Worcester, before men- 
 tioned. Elisha, Jr., and Susanna, settled on the estate 
 which his father, Elisha Smith, Sr., bought in 1740 of 
 William Temple ; while the father settled on another 
 estate of 140 acres south of it and west of and adjoining 
 North Pond, which he purchased the year previous, Feb- 
 ruary 8, 1739, of Richard Peables, another extensive 
 original proprietor of land in this part of Worcester. 
 This purchase of 140 acres included the farms 
 now of R. J. Pierce, Eben and W. C. Jewett, and others. 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 13 
 
 Of the other children of Elisha, Sr., and Patience 
 (Brown) Smith, Isaac settled on 87 acres of land given 
 him by his father in the south east part of Holden, and 
 Eunice was wife of Isaac Gleason, who resided where 
 his father, Thomas Gleason, before spoken of, lived, 
 on Burncoat Street, where Edwin P. Curtis now lives. 
 By a second wife, Abigail, whom he married in 1730, 
 Elisha Smith, Sr., had five other children, of whom 
 Abraham settled on 120 acres of land given him by his 
 father in Lunenburg, and Robert, born in Waltham in 
 1737, two years before the father came to Worcester, 
 settled on the paternal homestead given him by the 
 father at his decease in 1765, west of the pond, including 
 the land where R. J. Pierce and E. and W. C. Jewett 
 now live. This old estate, then comprising 252 acres, 
 Robert Smith sold in 1776 to Asa Ward, father of the 
 former Register of Deeds, Artemas Ward. Robert 
 Smith then removed to his last residence on Ararat 
 Street, where his son-in-law, Jonathan Gleason, Jr., and 
 the latter's sons, Robert S.* and Benjamin F. Gleason 
 afterwards lived, the main part of that estate having 
 been for many years owned and occupied by C. B. 
 Sweetser, and a portion of it by the family of the late 
 Benjamin F. Gleason, who died February 16, 1869, 
 aged 53 ; his father Jonathan Gleason, Jr., died May 3, 
 1838, aged 66 ; and the latter's widow, Esther, 
 daughter of Robert Smith, died December 31, 1866, 
 
 * Robert S. Gleason sold out his interest on Ararat street to his brother 
 Benjamin F. in 1855, and removed his residence to Beach street, and after- 
 wards to Washington street, where he died in 1870, and his widow lived 
 there after him. Their grandfather, Jonathan Gleason, Sr., father of 
 Jonathan Jr., was the oldest of ten children of the above mentioned Isaac 
 Gleason, who died in 1777, several of whose children settled on different 
 portions of the extensive landed estates of their father, Isaac Gleason, on 
 both sides of Burncoat street. Jonathan Gleason, Sr., lived in the ancient 
 house still standing on the west side of West Boylston street in Northville, 
 now owned by Joseph Stone, and his son, Jonathan, Jr., was the oldest of 
 his eleven children. They are descendants of Thomas Gleason, from the 
 old country, admitted freeman of the Massachusetts Colony in 1652, who 
 settled first in Watertown, was of Cambridge early as 1657, of Charlestown 
 in 1662, and afterwards in Cambridge, where he died in 1684. He was 
 great-grandfather of the first Thomas Gleason of Worcester, above men- 
 tioned. A fuller genealogy of these and other old Worcester families will 
 form subjects of future essays or addresses of this series. 
 
14 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 aged 95, at the residence of her daughter on Ararat 
 Street. 
 
 Robert Smith had two sons and seven daughters : 
 1, David, resided on 21 acres of land given him by the 
 father, in Holden ; 2, Amos, married a Winn and resided 
 on a farm in Holden, also given him by the father ; 
 3, Abigail, married in 1780, Benjamin Rice of Barre and 
 had six children there ; 4, Lydia, married Daniel Ball ; 
 
 5, Sarah, married in 1786 Samuel Bixby of Barre ; 
 
 6, Ruth, married Aaron Parker of Holden, grandfather of 
 Charles E. Parker, present here to-night ; 7, Esther, mar- 
 ried Jonathan Gleason, Jr., and succeeded to the paternal 
 estate on Ararat Street, as before mentioned ; 8, Hannah, 
 married Josiah Flagg, and had Jonathan, Joel, and others ; 
 9, another daughter married a Ward. Seven of these 
 children were by Robert Smith's first wife Sarah, who died 
 February 21, 1766, aged 33, and the last two were by his 
 second wife, Elizabeth Goodale, sister of Paul Goodale, 
 Sr.. of West Boylston. Robert Smith died July 4, 1807, 
 aged 70, at his last residence on Ararat Street, and his 
 widow died there October 6, 1837, aged 96 years and 7 
 months. Robert and his brother, Elisha Smith, Jr., and 
 their father, Elisha, Sr., had seats assigned them in the 
 meeting house erected on the old Common in 1763, 
 according to the plan printed in my " Reminiscences of 
 Worcester," at page 113. Elisha, Sr., and his son Robert 
 occupied the same slip or pew at the right of the pulpit, 
 as will be noticed. Among other official positions, Rob- 
 ert Smith was selectman in 1778 and '79 ; his brother 
 Elisha, Jr., was one of the building committee of the 
 meeting house in 1763, one of the school committee in 
 1753, and surveyor of highways in 1744, with other town 
 duties; and their father Elisha, Sr., was surveyor of 
 highways of the town in 1740, '43, '46, '47, and '49 ; 
 school committee in 1740, and '43 ; collector of taxes in 
 1747 and '49 ; and selectman and assessor in 1752. 
 
 Elisha Smith, Sr., married for his third and last wife, a 
 widow, Sarah Melvin of Concord, August 12, 1741, two 
 years after he came to Worcester. She survived him 
 three years, leaving at her decease in 1768 four sons, 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 15 
 
 John, Ebenezer, Josiah, and Nathan Melvin, by a former 
 husband, and also a daughter, Sarah, who married a 
 Barnes. This first Elisha Smith was one of the most 
 extensive landed proprietors of his time. Besides his 
 homestead which he left to his son Kobert, and the 60 
 acres he bought of William Temple, which he gave to 
 his son Elisha, Jr., he owned by grant or purchase, 
 several hundred acres of land in Worcester, Holden, and 
 Lunenburg, on which he settled his different sons and 
 sons-in-law, as before alluded to. The original house on 
 the estate in which Elisha and his son Robert Smith 
 lived, stood where E. and W. C. Jewett's house now 
 stands, which latter was built about 1834, when the 
 original house was torn down, by the late Benjamin Reed. 
 
 Elisha Smith, Jr., who married Susanna Gleason, resid- 
 ed where Mrs. Libby now lives, and had there four sons 
 and nine daughters, born between 1741 and 1758, an 
 account of whom and of the families of those who mar- 
 ried would form an extensive chapter in itself, and must 
 be deferred to some other time or occasion. The second 
 son and third child, Elisha Smith, the third, born July 6, 
 1744, was a sea captain ; he married, January 13, 1774, 
 Persis Child, daughter of John Child, a hotel keeper, 
 whose residence was a little over Worcester line, north- 
 erly of the Smiths and Harrises. Elisha Smith the third 
 and Persis, who had ten children, resided on the estate 
 given him by his father, where C. C. Foster now lives, 
 and where his son, Elisha Smith the fourth, who married 
 Betsy Howe of Holden, afterwards lived and died ; the 
 third Elisha Smith died there in 1806, aged 60, and his 
 son the fourth Elisha, September 22, 1850, aged 76 ; a 
 nephew of the latter, the late Walter H. Davis, who took 
 care of his uncle in his last days, afterwards owning and 
 occupying that estate, which has since had many different 
 owners and occupants. 
 
 Daniel Smith, who died in 1856, aged 81, was a 
 brother of the fourth Elisha, and resided in the brick 
 building in the rear on that portion of the parental estate 
 which he inherited from the father. 
 
 The homestead estate of the second Elisha Smith, 
 
16 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER : 
 
 where Mrs. Libby lives, passed out of the family after 
 his decease, to Benjamin Thaxter of Abington, whose 
 title to it, then comprising 105 acres, bears date Novem- 
 ber 27, 1792. Since then the estate has been best 
 known as the Thaxter Place, although the Thaxters owned 
 it only about 35 years. Benjamin Thaxter died there 
 April 21, 1821, aged 63, and his widow and son Fran- 
 cis lived there after him till the estate passed out of 
 the family about 1828."^ The next owner and occupant 
 was Thomas A. Aldrich, from Khode Island, who sold 
 it in 1849 to the late Dea. Alpheus Merrifield, the 
 latter purchasing it for his son, the late Francis N. Mer- 
 rifield, who lived there, and sold it about 1866 to the 
 late James L. Libby, and the latter's family still own and 
 occupy it. 
 
 Asa Ward, who purchased in 1776 of Robert Smith, 
 the homestead estate of his father, the first Elisha Smith, 
 west of North Pond, sold the same in 1781 to Dea. 
 Ebenezer Reed, from Uxbridge, who resided on that por- 
 tion of it where R. J. Pierce now lives, till his death 
 May, 11, 1823, aged 81 years, and his son Samuel T. 
 Reed lived there after him till his death, April 21, 1832, 
 aged 58, the latter's brother, the late Benjamin Reed, 
 taking that portion of the original estate afterwards 
 purchased by the late Ebenezer Jewett, father of the 
 present Eben Jewett, who now resides thereon with his 
 son, Warren C. Jewett. That portion of the original 
 estate where, the late Samuel T. Reed lived and where R. 
 
 * Benjamin Thaxter was a native of Hingham, and brother, probably, 
 of the Francis Thaxter who owned the Daniels place awhile. Benjamin 
 Thaxter married, before he came to Worcester, Sarah Howe, of Abington, 
 and they had these six children : 1, Sarah, born in 1786, married, August 
 30, 1815, Joseph Avery of Plymouth, son of Eev. Joseph Avery, pastor of 
 the old church in Holden, from 1774 till his death in 1824, aged 72 years ; 
 
 2, Benjamin, Jr., born in 1788, died September 6, 1886, in Boston, aged 98 ; 
 
 3, Mary H., born in 1793, married, July 12, 1826, Henry Wheeler, son of 
 Theophilus Wheeler, Register of Probate from 1793 to 1836, and she died 
 November 19, 1874, aged 81, at the old Wheeler homestead on Main Street, 
 where her husband and his father and grandfather had lived, and where 
 also her sister, Mrs. Avery, died February 17, 1873, aged 87 ; 4, Francis, 
 succeeded his father on the old Thaxter estate at North Worcester, and 
 died unmarried, September 14, 1851, aged 54 years, at the residence of his 
 sister, Mrs. Henry Wheeler; 5, Martin H., died September 21, 1826, aged 
 43, in Florida ; 6, Fanny L., died August 31, 1859, aged 68, unmarried, at 
 her sister's Mrs. Henry Wheeler. See " Reminiscences of Worcester," 
 page 257. 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS 17 
 
 J. Pierce now lives, was purchased of the Reed heirs in 
 1836 by the late Nathan Rogers, from Holden, father 
 of ex-alderman Thomas M. Rogers. Nathan Rogers car- 
 ried on the farm alone for two years, till 1838, when his 
 son, the late Jeremiah Rogers, joined him, and they 
 carried on the farm together till the father's death in 
 1855, when Jeremiah's son, George P. Rogers, purchased 
 of the heirs his grandfather's half of the farm, and 
 George P. Rogers and his father owned and occupied the 
 farm together till 1865, when they sold out to Granger 
 and R. Judson Pierce, and they managed it together till 
 the death of Granger Pierce, since which time R. J. 
 Pierce has owned and managed it alone. 
 
 But, ladies and gentlemen, I will not weary you with a 
 further detail of facts or statistics at this time. Let me 
 close with a few moralising reflections pertinent to the 
 topic and occasion, on what has been said. 
 
 As we review the history of a century and three-quarters 
 in this locality, since the first proprietor of these lands, 
 James Knapp, came here, and his successor by purchase, 
 Richard Temple, settled his sons, Joseph and William, 
 and his son-in-law, William Harris, thereon ; as we look 
 back to their times, how deeply are we impressed with 
 the extent and significance of the changes which have 
 since transpired. The same rocks and hills are indeed 
 here ; the same heavens are above our heads, the same 
 earth is under our feet ; and the same purling brooks 
 meander through the valleys into that ancient landmark, 
 so often referred to in the old records, the old " North 
 Pond," just below us ; but in all things relating to 
 humanity and the progress of civilization, how extensive 
 are the changes ! Looking over the long list of past 
 proprietors and dwellers on the different farms into which 
 these lands have been divided, the Temples, Harrises, 
 Peables, Smiths, Houghton, Lyon, Fish, the Thaxters, 
 Patches, the Farrars, Daniels, Gleasons, Wards, Reeds, 
 Rogers, and others of the past, and their contemporaries 
 on the surrounding estates, the Flaggs, McKonkeys, 
 Whitneys, Barbers, Nichols, Childs, Gearys, Dwelleys, 
 Drurys, and others ; in our minds' eye we see them tug- 
 
18 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 ging away at their work, with their old fashioned imple- 
 ments of husbandry, as they followed their humble 
 callings, for the maintenance of themselves and those 
 near and dear to them by the same family ties which 
 bind us to those now depending upon us for support. 
 We may well say of these veteran farmers of the olden 
 time on these hDls and along these valleys : They now 
 rest from their labors in their long, last sleep : 
 
 " They have plowed their last furrow and reaped their last grain, 
 No morn shall awake them to labor again." 
 
 " Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 
 Their furrow, oft, the stubborn glebe has broke ; 
 
 How jocund did they drive their teams afield. 
 How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke. 
 
 The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, 
 The swallow twittering from the straw built shed. 
 
 The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, 
 No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. 
 
 For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn. 
 
 Or busy house-wife ply her evening care ; 
 No children run to lisp their sire's return. 
 
 Or climb his knees, the envied kiss to share." 
 
 As we contemplate in imagination these former tillers 
 of the soil, with their past time simple modes of husband- 
 ry, in striking contrast with our modern improved 
 methods of farming by the application of machinery and 
 multiplied means of fertilization, making so many blades 
 of grass and so many ears of corn and kernels of grain 
 grow where but one could formerly be produced ; as we 
 take into consideration our modern, vastly multiplied 
 facilities for farming, over the past, how forcibly are we 
 reminded of the obligation and responsibility of the 
 present cultivators of the soil to " make farming pay " 
 to a much greater extent than did our predecessors with 
 so much less favorable facilities at their command. If 
 our patriotic old forefathers, whom we are in the habit 
 of so justly commending for their stern virtues of indus- 
 try and perseverance, could secure for themselves and 
 their families a comfortable and substantial living, 
 educate their children, and hand down their names to us 
 as good examples for us to follow, how impressively 
 comes to us the sense of obligation and duty for the 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 19 
 
 intelligent farmers of this model old agricultural county 
 of Worcester, with their immensely increased facilities, 
 to set themselves in the foreground as successful prac- 
 titioners of the noble art of husbandry, making it pay 
 financially as well at least as any other honest busi- 
 ness calling in our midst. 
 
 Two hundred and sixty-nine years ago this very day, 
 the Mayflower, with its precious load of Pilgrims, had 
 arrived in Massachusetts Bay, and was seeking a eafe 
 landing place, which they found a few days later on 
 Plymouth Rock. For what did they come here, except 
 to enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and 
 maintain an honest subsistence for all by the cultivation 
 of the land which they were careful to secure a right to 
 by equitable purchase from the Indians, as well as grants 
 from the mother country ? They did not come here to 
 huddle together in a few large communities, where the 
 privileged few might enrich themselves at the expense 
 and sacrifice of the labors of the great multitude of 
 " hewers of wood and drawers of water;" where concen- 
 trated capital might lord it over the toiling millions in 
 compact and densely crowded cities. On the contrary, 
 they came here to spread out over the land. When one 
 little community of proprietors after another, which they 
 called towns, miles and miles apart, had become no 
 larger in population than your little village of North 
 Worcester, they gradually pushed out farther and farther 
 into the country for more room, founding Worcester in 
 due time in their westward progress from the sea shore. 
 
 Had there been a wider spread over the land, and less 
 extension up into the air, in the erection of the many- 
 storied structures in our large cities, and had the streets 
 upon which they were built been wider instead of so nar- 
 row as they are, in violation of the laws of nature, might 
 not some of the big fires we have been pained to read 
 the details of, been prevented ? " The mills of God," it 
 is said, " grind slowly," but they grind sure, and it is 
 hoped that wiser action in the future, on the part of those 
 most responsible for the present state of things in this 
 regard, may be induced from the sad lessons of the past. 
 
20 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS — NORTH WORCESTER: 
 
 I would not be understood, of course, as claiming that 
 there should be no cities or large towns, or that the size 
 of organized civil communities should be limited by any 
 arbitrary mathematical rule, — the regular laws of bus- 
 iness and trade, if left to operate legitimately, would 
 settle this matter properly, — but I do claim that inor- 
 dinate selfishness, a one-sided, misguided view of things, 
 has crept in and pushed matters in this line out of all due 
 proportion, between an honest demand and supply, as to 
 actual need and benefit, for the public interest, in the 
 extreme modern rush of the rural population into the 
 cities, leaving the old farms, with all their ancestral asso- 
 ciations, to go to ruin. Had the 95 per cent of those 
 who, within my own recollection, have became bankrupt 
 in their attempt to run mercantile business in Worcester, 
 remained upon the iarm, and cultivated that as they 
 ought, they might have made a successful thing of it, 
 instead of running behind ; they might not have become 
 millionaires, but they certainly would not have been 
 so far behindhand, pecuniarily, as too many of such adven- 
 turous ones have become, and been obliged to resort to 
 the statutes of the commonwealth in order to get again 
 upon their feet, and become again legally (quite a differ- 
 ent thing from morally) square with the world. 
 
 All honor to those of our time who have set noble 
 examples in turning attention to the farm in the midst 
 of their other avocations. Among these is our estimable 
 and enterprising host, one of the five per cent who have 
 made a success in their mercantile business, as contradis- 
 tinguished from the unfortunate 95 per cent who have 
 made a wreck of it. 
 
 Let this rejuvenation of the old farms in New England 
 go forward, till, in our travels through the country towns, 
 we shall see, instead of dilapidated homesteads of former 
 successful tillers of the soil, from the windows of which 
 the owl may almost be said to look out at noonday upon 
 the decay of a former civilization, we may witness the 
 homes of prosperous farmers, with their " cattle upon a 
 thousand hills," the landscape interspersed with little mill 
 villages along the many streams and waterfalls, while at 
 
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND OLD FARMS. 21 
 
 a distance an enterprising city like our own Worcester, 
 reaching its proud proportions on the basis of a natural 
 growth, on the principles of equity and justice, as the 
 grand central mart of trade and business for this section 
 of the country, looms up grandly to view, with its 85,000 
 inhabitants and huge manufacturing establishments, its 
 innumerable churches and unexcelled institutions of 
 education and instruction, crowned with that latest and 
 most distinguished addition to our educational facilities, 
 the celebrated Clark University. 
 
 Mr. Wall's address occupied about an hour in the 
 delivery, was listened to with marked attention, and 
 warmly applauded at the close. Like the other addresses 
 of a similar character by the speaker, relating to other 
 localities, it was recognized as a valuable contribution to 
 our local history, and requested to be printed in full. 
 
 Remarks followed by Hon. Clark Jillson, B. W. Potter, 
 Esq., Ezekiel Newton of Westboro, Joseph Lovell, the 
 oldest person present, and Rev. Alonzo Sanderson of 
 Laurel Street Church, each giving some interesting rem- 
 iniscences relative to matters referred to in the 
 address. On motion of H. J. Allen, a vote of thanks was 
 extended to Mr. Wall for his address, and to Mr. Lowell 
 for his liberal hospitality. A very pleasant feature of 
 the occasion was the presence of Ezekiel Newton of 
 Westborough, an owner and occupant of the premises for 
 39 years — from 1831 to 1870 — who renewed many old 
 associations with his former neighbors and friends here. 
 
 Letters were read from Mayor Winslow, President 
 Hall of Clark University, and Hon. W. W. Rice, regret- 
 ting their inability to be present in response to 
 invitations. 
 
 At the close of the exercises a generous collation was 
 served by Mr. Lowell, who secured the services of 
 caterer Rebboli for the occasion, which will be long 
 remembered. 
 
COMMENDATOEY LETTERS. 
 
 Several other letters, besides those previously alluded to, have 
 been received from prominent gentlemen interested in the enter- 
 prise in which Mr. Wall is engaged, warmly encouraging him 
 in the same. Among them, Charles F. Washburn, Esq., a native 
 of Worcester, and representing the largest business enterprise 
 in the county, the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, 
 writes : 
 
 " I want to thank you for your very kind invitation to listen to your 
 address at North Worcester. I should have been very glad to have availed 
 myself of the same, had not other imperative engagements stood in the 
 way." 
 
 Mayor Winslow^s letter, dated Dec. 5, was in these words : 
 
 *' Mr Wall— -My Dear Sir. I extremely regret that my official duties 
 at the City Hall, Friday evening, will prevent my accepting your polite 
 invitation to be present at the farm house of A. S. Lowell, on that evening. 
 I have been very much interested in the historical sketches you have so 
 carefully made of so many places of note within our city, and I can but 
 hope they may be compiled and placed within the reach of all our citi- 
 zens. Accept my thanks. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 SAMUEL WINSLOW. 
 
 Ex-Mayor and Ex- Congressman W. W. Rice wrote Dec. 5 : 
 
 " My Dear Mr. Wall. — I was hoping to accept in person your very 
 kind invitation to hear your lecture at Mr. Lowell's. There is no subject 1 
 am more interested in than the history of those old farms. If, as I fear, 
 other engagements may prevent my attending, I hope to have the pleasure 
 of perusmg it in print. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 W. W. RICE. 
 
 Similar words of commendation have been received from Ex- 
 Mayor Edward L. Davis, a ^'native and to the manner born" of 
 our noble city. Principal A. S. Roe of the High School, and 
 others, encouraging Mr. Wall to persevere in the good work 
 he is doing. 
 
 President G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University, in his letter 
 of thanks for the invitation, ^ ' regretted exceedingly that another 
 engagement prevented him from attending the meeting." 
 
 Hon. George William Curtis, of New York, whose ancestors 
 for five generations were residents of Worcester, wrote express- 
 ing the great interest and pleasure with which he had read the 
 reports of several of Mr. Wall's addresses and papers on Worces- 
 ter, adding, ^ ' I find that whatever concerns Worcester, seems 
 through my ancestors, down to my father, to concern me," 
 
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