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F74 W9W16
ISTEES OF
APUBLIC LIBRARY
OMNIVM
POI CMVM
95
OF THE CITY OF
BOSTON
18.52
1878
GIVEN BY
Caleb A. Wall
EASTERN WORCESTER:
ITS
First Settlers and Their Locations.
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
IN THREE CHAPTERS.
By CALEB A. WALL,
Author of " REMINISCENCES OF WORCESTER," "THE PURITANS VS. THE QUAKERS," " NORTH WORCESTER: ITS FIRST SFTTLFES AND CLE FARMS," ETC.
WORCESTER : PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1891.
SocSCI F74 · W9 WIE
2644% Caleb A. Wall. 191
3 22/00
PREFACE.
This publication comprises three historical addresses by the author at three different places in the Easterly section of the City, descriptive of their respective localities and surroundings in the past, from the beginning of the town. Other addresses, given at Burncoat Plain, on 'akachoag Hill, in Pilgrim Hall, and elsewhere, including agatabscot Hill, Quinsigamond Village and Tatnuck, ill be printed in due time, in similar style.
C. A. W.
[PRESS OF F. S. BLANCHARD & CO.]
EASTERN WORCESTER:
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
On the second Saturday of June, 1889, and of June, 1890, respectively, and on Saturday, Aug. 16, 1890, Caleb A. Wall held field meetings, at different historic points on the west side of that ancient landmark, Lake Quinsigamond. At these meet- ings he gave accounts of the first settlers and their locations along the west shore of the lake, and on Plantation street and vicinity. The first of these meetings was held Saturday afternoon, June 15, 1889, in the pavilion in Lake Park, near the highest eleva- tion of land, where are the remains of three old cellars, indicat- ing the locations of the residences of several of the first settlers in that section of the old town, one of them, probably that of Samuel Leonard, whose son Samuel, Jr., was carried off by the Indians during their depredations previous to the beginning of the permanent settlement of the town.
The second of these three meetings was held one year later, Saturday afternoon, June 14, 1890, the 168th anniversary of the incorporation of the town, on the historic old "Coal Mine Farm" of Elliot Swan, on Plantation street, opposite Wig- wam hill.
The last one of these gatherings was held Aug. 16, 1890, in the beautiful grove on James Draper's " Bloomingdale Farm " on Plantation street.
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
·
CHAPTER I.
FIRST GRANTS OF LAND FOR WORCESTER, AND FIRST SETTLERS ALONG LAKE QUINSIGAMOND.
MEETING AT LAKE PARK.
At this meeting, held June 15, 1889, on the highest elevation of the land in Lake Park, near the Davis Tower, a goodly rep- resentation of persons interested in local history, was present. After an hour spent in viewing the old landmarks, and the beauties of the surrounding scenery, the pavilion was entered at three o'clock, and the meeting organized by the choice of Parks Commissioner O. B. Hadwen for chairman. Mr. Hadwen, after brief welcoming remarks, introduced Mr. Wall, who gave an address on the first grants of land for Worcester, and the earliest settlers along the west shore of the historic old lake which gave the first name to the place which was afterwards, Oct. 15, 1684, named Worcester.
ADDRESS AT LAKE PARK, JUNE 15, 1889.
The first grant by the General Court of land located in the vicinity of Lake Quinsigamond, or of any part of the territory of Worcester, consisted of 3200 acres, granted May 22, 1650, to Increase Nowell, as executor and afterwards assignee and pur- chaser of the estate of Isaac Johnson of Charlestown, " to be laid out of the bounds of territory not yet disposed of, so they take it altogether in one place." After the death of Increase Nowell, who had been in distinguished and frequent public ser- vice in the Massachusetts colony, as magistrate, secretary, elder of the church, selectman, etc., for 19 years, commissioners were appointed, May 6, 1657, to lay out this land to Mr. Nowell's executors and assignees, John Haines, Josiah Haines and Nathaniel Treadway, and this they afterwards did, and their action was confirmed by the General Court, May 27, 1664. This tract of 3200 acres, consisting of about 72 square miles, was all located east of Lake Quinsigamond, except an island of nearly 100 acres, afterwards called Stratton Island, and now Quinsigamond Park, at the south end of the lake, and a small island then just below that, since that time submerged by the dam built at the outlet of the lake. The tract took in a goodly
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
part of the central territory of Shrewsbury, averaging about 22 miles square. [A plan of this grant was shown.]
May 22, 1662, a grant of 1000 acres was made " for the bene- fit of the ministry of Malden," and the General Court, May 3, 1665, located this "about two miles southwesterly from the southwest angle of Lancaster bounds," about 100 acres of it coming within the original bounds of Worcester, which, till 1740, included Holden, and the other 900 acres came within the original bounds of Shrewsbury, which first included both Boyls- ton and West Boylston. Most of this 900 acres comes within the present limits of West Boylston and the remainder in old Boylston. Malden hill and Malden brook received their names from this, though the hill itself did not come within the grant as located, but was west of it, Malden brook running from it.
October 19, 1664, there were granted by the General Court to Thomas Noyes, surveyor, " for service done and money expend- ed, and other respects, 250 acres of land," laid out and located May 23d, 1666, " near a place called by the Indians Quansica- mung Pond, near adjoining to lands, formerly laid out to Thom- as Noyes, John Haines and others, beginning near the north end and head of said pond, thence S. 4° W. 206 rods, thence W. 4° N. 190 rods, thence N. 4° E. 206 rods, and thence E. 4º S. 190 rods to the place of beginning, with ten or twelve acres added at the last angle to make up the complement of the said 250 acres." [A plan of this tract was also exhibited. ]
Under date of May 27, 1668, is this record, signed by Thom Noyes, surveyor, in the old colony records : "Laid out in 1665 to the assignees of Rev. John Norton, late teacher of the church in Boston, 250 acres of land, which were granted to him Nov. 12, 1659, by the General Court, located on the west side of a great pond called and known by the name of Quinsigamond Pond, southward of the bounds of Lancaster, 240 acres of this being in a long square bounded on every side by the country's land, and 10 acres being added on the east side to make up the full complement of 250 acres." John Payne was the assignee of Rev. John Norton, of whom Noyes purchased this land. A plan of this tract was also shown. It included what is now North Park and land on both sides of Burncoat street, running north 160 rods from Melrose and Millbrook streets.
· This grant of 250 acres to Rev. John Norton, in 1659, (with another grant of 250 acres in Sudbury, ) was made in remunera- tion to him for his services in writing down the Quakers and aiding in the terrible persecution of these people between the years 1656 and 1661, by which four of them were executed, and numerous others underwent the most inhuman treatment, for their religious opinions, at the hands of the Puritan authorities in Massachusetts, at the instigation of Norton, Gov. Endicott, Rev. John Wilson and others.
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
The purchase of this 250 acre grant to Norton, by Noyes, was undoubtedly made before the land was laid out or located, and he was the surveyor both of this and the 250 acres laid out to himself ; and as the record evidence of the laying out of both grants was in his own hands, a contest subsequently arose as to its validity. Oct. 11, 1665, in response to the petition of En- sign Thomas Noyes, John and Josiah Haines and Nathaniel Treadway, all brothers-in-law, as it would appear, to whom grants of land had been made and located, a committee was ap- pointed by the General Court, consisting of Capt. Daniel Gookin and others, to " view the place and see whether it be capable of making a plantation, what number of families might be accom- modated upon it," etc. Owing to the death, soon afterwards, of Ensign Noyes, in 1666, action on this order was delayed. The General Court renewed its action and instructions to the committee May 15, 1667, and Oct. 20, 1668, they made a report to the court on this order, "about the new plantation near Quinsigamond pond," that they had viewed the place therein mentioned, and found it to lie " about 12 miles westward from Marlboro, near the road to Springfield ; that it contained a tract of very good chestnut land, a large quantity ; but the meadow they find not so much, because a very considerable quantity of meadow and upland, about 5000 acres, is laid out unto particular persons, within this tract of land," etc., the committee's report closing with the recommendation that a pru-
.ent and able committee have the charge of the territory to be granted, consisting of eight miles square, and have charge of the settlement of the same till it have a sufficient number of inhabitants, after seven years, to form a town. This was accordingly done, and Captains Daniel Gookin, Daniel Hench- man, and George Prentice, and Lieut. Richard Beers, were appointed as that committee. The shape of the plantation, as surveyed by David Fisk by their order, was an oblique angled parallelogram, about 52 miles wide from east to west, and 112 miles long from north to south, bounding easterly on Lake Quinsigamond and an extension of that line northerly, the northwest and southeast corners forming an obtuse angle of about 110°, and the other two corners an acute angle of 70°. This constituted about 64 square miles, or 43,000 acres, and in- cluded whatis now Holden, set off in 1740, and the northeast quar- ter of Auburn, which was set off in 1778. It will be noticed that this did not include any of the Nowell grant of 3200 acres, and but 100 of the 1000 acres of the Malden grant, but it did include the 500 acres of the Noyes and Norton grants. After the death of Noyes, in 1666, Ephraim Curtis of Sudbury purchased, in 1670, of Mr. Noyes' widow, then Mrs. Bacon, her right to both these lots, and began to build in the fall of 1673, a small house on one of them, the lot granted to Norton, which included what
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
is now called North Park, and the land on which the Adams square school house stands, corner of Burncoat and Melrose streets.
As the committee appointed by the General Court to have charge of the settlement claimed that thelaying out of these two grants (to Noyes and Norton) was subsequent to the time the territory including them was put in their charge, they disputed Curtis' right to proceed farther without authority from this com- mittee. The matter was finally referred by the committee to the General Court for settlement, and in response, under date of June 3, 1674, the court ordered, as a full settlement of the case between the committee and Curtis, after hearing all the evidence on both sides, " that Curtis shall have 50 acres of the land where he hath built, to be laid out and ordered by the committee for said plantation as other lots there are, so it be in one place, with all manner of accommodation appertaining thereto as other inhab- itants have, and that he shall have liberty to take up the 250 acres of land without the bounds of said town, provided it be near adjoining thereto, and to be in lieu of the land granted to John Norton." This did not affect the claim to the Noyes grant, upon which Curtis, or his son, Capt. John, afterwards built, and which has ever since remained in the family, where Tyler P. Curtis, great grandson of Capt. John, now lives.
There is the best of evidence that this grant to Norton was on the north corners of what are now Melrose, Millbrook and Burn- coat streets, including both sides of Burncoat street, extending 160 rods north of the corner. The fifty-acre section of this on which Curtis built the small house alluded to, and which was afterwards granted to him on the condition of his yielding his right to the remainder and accepting instead of it the 250 acres given him elsewhere, was located on the east corner, fronting 69 rods on the "country road," now Melrose street, and run- ning back northwardly the 160 rod depth of the whole. This includes the land on which the Adams square school house now stands and the Chaffin and Alfred Smith estates, all of which made about 50 acres before Mr. Smith sold off a few years ago a part of his land, since built upon by different parties. This 50 acres run north about to the estate now of Edwin P. Curtis, formerly Walter Bigelow's, and included the present North Park.
[A plan was here shown of the lots of land granted in 1674 in the vicinity of what is now known as Adams square, as com- pared in the outlines and boundaries with those of the present owners of estates there, to show how many of the ancient boun- dary lines have ever since been preserved.]
King Phillip's war broke out in 1675, when all the settlements begun here were broken up, and Curtis acted an important part in the war against the Indians as lieutenant. He retired after it was over to Sudbury, and does not appear to have returned
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. AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
here, but either he or his son, Capt. John, must have built some time before 1734 on the estate which the father that year, he being then, as well as in 1731, of Sudbury, deeded to his son John, and either he or his son Ephraim, Jr., had probably built before 1731 on the Pakachoag Hill estate of 250 acres, which his father that year deeded to him. This 250 acres which Ephraim Curtis, senior, took up in lieu of the remaining 200 acres of the North grant, was located on the easterly border of what now constitutes Auburn, the northern border of Mill- bury, and the southern border of Worcester, (formerly called a gore), just outside of the original grant of eight miles square. Of this 250 acres which Curtis deeded to his son Ephraim, Jr., in 1731, "with the buildings thereon," the main or original homestead part, including the old house, has ever since been in the possession of the descendants of that branch of the family.
Of the original 250 acres of the Noyes lot, on which Ephraim Curtis, or his son John, afterwards built, as before stated, the father conveyed 150 acres with the buildings to his son, Capt. John Curtis, in 1734, the owners and occupants of this having since been Tyler, John, and Tyler P. Curtis.
In 1745, Ephraim Curtis, senior, then as before of Sudbury, conveyed the remaining 100 acres of this 250, situated south- east of the other, to Othniel Taylor, whose father, James Tay- lor, was the first settler at the north end of Plantation street, next below or southeast of the Curtis estate.
[A plan was here shown of the location of these old estates, according to the deeds of conveyance.]
There is the best reason for the belief that the first extension of the old "country road " or "Connecticut road" from the above mentioned corner of what are now Melrose and Burncoat streets, where Ephraim Curtis built his first house in the fall of 1673, was westward through what is now Millbrook street and thence in a circuitous route west of Mill Brook, according to a plan which will be shown when the writer comes to speak more particularly of that section of the city; and that the route through what is now Lincoln street, east of Millbrook, was opened about the time of the beginning of the second attempt at settlement in 1684.
I will now refer to the second attempt at settlement, begun in 1683, which was also broken up by the Indians, among those who were driven off by them being the family of Samuel Leonard in 1697, whose residence was near where the meeting was held, and the family of Digory Sergeant, (see Rem. p. 15-17), whose residence was near that of Jonas Rice, the first one to come at the beginning of the third and permanent settlement in the fall of 1713. Jonas Rice's brother, Gershom Rice, soon after joined him, they settling near each other, the former on the northeasterly and the latter on the northerly slope of Saga-
-
9
ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
tabscot hill. Jonas Rice's location was where the late Edward L. Ward lived on Heywood street, from 1838 till his decease in 1890, and Gershom Rice's was near the corner of Grafton and Wall streets. Their brother-in-law, Nathaniel Moore, settled just east of Jonas Rice, on what is now the Dr. Heywood heirs' estate on Heywood street. Others followed in different sections of the town. At the beginning of this permanent settlement in 1713 and '14, the country road was extended from what is now Lincoln square southerly to the common, and thence toward Leicester, Sutton and Oxford, by different routes. At the same time, 1713-'14, a new thoroughfare was opened, now called Plan- tation street, extending from the country road (Lincoln street), near the head of Lake Quinsigamond, in a southwesterly direc- tion, by the new settlements then just begun, of James Taylor, Moses Leonard and others, to and across what is now Grafton street, to the new settlements of Jonas Rice and his brother-in- law, Nathaniel Moore, on what is now Heywood street, and thence westward from Jonas Rice's by the locations, then just granted in the spring of 1714, of his brothers Ephraim, Elisha and James Rice, (see Rem. p. 40), to and across what is now Vernon street, the old road to Sutton, to and through Ward and Cambridge streets to New Worcester, where it joined the old country road from Boston through Worcester, Leicester, Brook- field, and Springfield, to New York.
Gershom Rice removed about 1735 to Pakachoag Hill, in that part of Worcester now in Auburn, and settled on the estate where his great grandson, Edward Rice, died in 1863, aged 90 years, (see Rem. p. 19-40), now owned and occupied by M. L. Hervey.
Mr. Wall then proceeded to speak of the first settlers and their locations on the west shore of Lake Quinsigamond, but as what he said on this point is included in the address he gave one year later, June 14, 1890, at the old Coal Mine Farm, it is printed in connection with that. The address was followed with remarks by Parks Commissioner James Draper, on whose motion a vote of thanks was extended to Mr. Wall for the same, with the generally expressed wish that it be printed in full.
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
CHAPTER II.
FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS ON THE WEST SHORE. OF LAKE QUINSIGAMOND.
Meeting at the Coal Mine Farm of Elliot Swan, on Plantation street, opposite Wigwam Hill, Saturday afternoon, June 14, 1890.
At this meeting there was a gathering of about fifty ladies and gentlemen interested in the early history of Worcester, on the lawn in front of the ancient farm house occupied by Charles B. Demond, lessee of Mr. Swan's farm. After a half hour of inspection of the localities, including the old mine and its- surroundings, Parks Commissioner James Draper was called to the chair, and after opening remarks introduced Mr. Wall, who gave the following address :
COAL MINE FARM ADDRESS.
This beautiful June day, the 168th Anniversary of the incor- poration of the town of Worcester, June 14, 1722, since grown to be a populous city, so long justly recognized as the "Heart of the Commonwealth," whose history dates back to the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock in 1620, may be considered a. fitting occasion for the consideration of matters connected with the beginnings of the settlements here, and their progress.
October 21, 1713, upon the petition of Col. Adam Winthrop, Gershom Rice and Jonas Rice, to the General Court, on behalf of themselves and other proprietors of lands within the town- ship of Worcester, setting forth their desire to enter upon a new settlement of the said plantation from which they and others had been driven by the late Indian War, and praying for the appointment of a proper committee to have charge of the same till the place should be of sufficient size to be duly incor- porated as a town, the prayer of this petition was granted, and Col. Winthrop, Col. Wm. Taylor of Malden, Col. Wm. Dudley of Boston, Col. Thomas Howe of Marlborough, and Col. John Ballantine of Boston, were appointed said committee, and their first report to the General Court, in recommendation of measures
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
to be taken, was made and accepted by the representatives May 26th following, and became a law by the signature of the Gover- nor, Joseph Dudley, June 14, 1714, just eight years before the day of incorporation of the town, and 176 years ago the day of this meeting, which was thus a double anniversary occasion.
THE TAYLOR FAMILY.
Among those to whom grants of land were made by the above named committee, immediately after their appointment, and they were authorized so to do, were those to the first settlers on the west shore of Lake Quinsigamond, of whom the northern- most one was James Taylor, from Marlboro, whose lands included the place where this meeting is held. James Tay- lor's original grant of 111 acres, in three adjoining lots, on both sides of Plantation street, were bounded, that portion on the west side of the road, northwest and west by Ephraim Curtis, and southwest by Thomas Binney; and that on the east side of that road was bounded north by Wigwam Hill, east by Lake Quinsigamond, and south by Moses Leonard. This included the central portion of Mr. Swan's farm, and the main portion of the farm of Samuel G. Curtis, south of Mr. Swan's. At James Taylor's death in 1743, he left his estate, then comprising 140 acres, to his son Othniel Taylor, who died in 1779. Their residence, as well as that of Othniel's son, Othniel, Jr., was where Samuel G. Curtis now lives. After the death of Othniel Taylor, Jr., in 1812, his children sold that portion of the estate of their great grandfather, James Taylor, out of the family, it being encumbered with a heavy mortgage, to Dr. John Green and Capt. Samuel Brooks. The next occupant of that estate was William Coes, blacksmith, whose assignees, Dr. Benjamin and Dea. Lewis Chapin, sold it in 1829, then comprising 91 acres, to Benjamin F. Curtis ; and since the death of the latter in 1858, his son Samuel G. Curtis has occupied it. Soon after he purchased the estate, the late Benjamin F. Curtis, who was brother of Albert Curtis, Esq., of New Worcester, built the main part of the present house, the rear or kitchen part being a portion of the original house on the estate. Albert W. Curtis, Esq., of Spencer, is another son of Benjamin F. Curtis. There was a blacksmith shop on the opposite side of the road, just over the brook, which was torn down many years ago. Pre- vious to leaving here, Wm. Coes resided on Mechanic street, where he had a blacksmith shop, afterwards occupied succes- sively by Samuel Boyden and Leonard Pool, on the site now of Joseph Sauer's German American House.
The first Othniel Taylor's son William, who died in 1808, and the latter's son James Taylor, who died in 1814, lived on
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
that portion of the original farm of their ancestor, James Taylor, where we now are. The last James Taylor's sister, Molly, who married Timothy Bragg, and who inherited this estate with her brother from their father, Wm. Taylor, sold it in 1826 to Joel Putnam, who was brother of Charles Putnam, the husband of Mrs. Bragg's daughter Sarah, Mr. Bragg having then deceased. The estate became in 1828 the property of Col. Amos Binney, to operate the mine for its supposed wealth, and his heirs sold it to the present owner, Elliot Swan, in 1850. The first dwelling house on this estate, the main part of the present one, was probably built about 1756, when this portion (60 acres) of the original estate of the first settler, James Taylor, was given to his grandson William Taylor, by the latter's father, Othniel Taylor, senior, by deed, for his settlement in life. In this deed reference is made to the old mine, in the description of the northwest bounds of the farm conveyed as running west to a tree marked W. T., on a hill a little northwest of a mine com- monly called "Nackor's Mine," thence extending northerly and northwesterly to Capt. John Curtis' farm, the father, Othniel Taylor, senior, reserving the privilege of flowing the land on which a saw mill then stood. A walk up coal mine brook through this land will show where this saw mill, long ago torn down, probably stood.
James Taylor, born in Marlborough, April 22, 1674, who died in Worcester, February 24, 1743, was son of James2 Tay- lor, who resided first in Cambridge and lastly in Marlborough, where he died February 11, 1713, the latter being son of Wm.1 Taylor, who died in Concord in 1706. By his wife Elizabeth, who died in Worcester, July 11, 1755, surviving her husband twelve years, James Taylor had these seven children, born in Marlborough before 1714, when the parents came here:
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