USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Spencer > Historical sketches relating to Spencer, Mass., Volume I > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
Go 974.402 Sp34t V. I 1136354
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
U (Worcester
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 8536
Mrs. T. S. I sur-
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historicalsketch01towe 0
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
RELATING TO
SPENCER, MASS.,
BY
HENRY M. TOWER.
VOLUME I.
1901 .
SPENCER, MASS., W. J. HEFFERNAN-SPENCER LEADER PRINT.
IQOI.
"I shall pass through this world but once --- therefore if there be any good I can do, let me do it now, for I shall never come this way again .- Quaker Saying.
1136354
HENRY M. TOWER. Born in Spencer, July 23, 1847.
PREFACE.
Some things are said to happen. If this be true, it can be so said of this book. It is one of those incidents in life that come without predetermination. I had been chosen by the committee in charge to write the Samuel Bemis historical address and had gathered more material of value than could well be utilized in a paper of an hour's length. It was then suggested that the whole be published in book form and this appearing to be desirable, the idea took definite form, being extended, however, to include other his- torical papers.
Spencer, Mass., Oct., 1901.
RECORDS CONSULTED.
Hatton's Emigrants, 1600 to 1700.
Early Massachusetts marriages.
Bemis Family in America.
Newhall's "Record of my Ancestry."
Histories of Spencer, Brookfield, Leicester, Lancaster, Charl- ton, Oxford, Worcester, Watertown, Sudbury, Marlboro, Fram- ingham, Ipswich, Harvard, Rutland and Shirley.
Records at Essex Institute, Salem.
Records at Genealogical Rooms, Boston.
Records at State House, Boston.
County Records at Springfield, Worcester, Cambridge and Salem.
Town Records of Spencer, Leicester, Brookfield, Watertown, Ipswich and Topsfield, besides church and other records, from all of which some items of interest have been gleaned.
----
NATHANIEL WOOD.
Who he was is a mystery no longer. Since the publication of the first edition of Draper's history sixty years ago and presuma- bly years before that, many wanted to know more than that work contains concerning the mysterious first settler in Spencer, the man who came, no one knew from whence, who tarried no one knew how long, who disappeared like the Arab that "folded his tent and stole silently away," no one knew whither. He was our Melchisedek; the man who appeared to have had neither beginning nor ending of days. So far as local information was obtainable, James Draper occupied a pre-eminent position to gather the facts, for he knew men whose fathers were contemporaries with this, the first settler. The knowledge he obtained, however, was meagre, too meagre indeed to be the satisfactory sum total of information desired. And so it has remained for one of a later generation to institute a persistent search among the records of the past in order to find out if possible who this man was.
Records Found.
The search has proved to be successful. Many records, though widely scattered, have been found which reveal the iden- tity of the man, and these are herewith largely reproduced. One very interesting point brought out is his participation in the Nar- ragansett fort fight, one of the most noted battles in Indian war- fare, and which resulted in the total destruction of their fort and practically the annihilation of the Narragansett tribe. And now when the history of Spencer shall be rewritten, as it should be be- fore many years, Nathaniel Wood will appear therein not as a stranger but a man whom we know about and honor as the very first white man to settle in Spencer and who acted well his part in the great drama of the establishment in America of a nation based on the eternal principles of Justice.
HISTORY OF NATHANIEL WOOD.
The first white man known to have settled in that part of Leicester now called Spencer was Nathaniel Wood of Ipswich and Draper's History names 1717 as the date. It is possible that some white man or men, made at an earlier date the clearing on Bare Hill, lot 64, noted by the first pioneers of record, but if such was the case there is no clue whence they came or whither they went. It is known, however, that the Indians had a burial ground about a half mile south east of this hill and this would indicate their continued presence in considerable numbers in that vicinity. It is also known that they had an annual burning over of their upland hunting grounds for the purpose of keeping down the brush and to facilitate travel when in search of game. They also were tillers of the soil to a limited extent, and these facts lead up to the con- clusion that they may have made the clearing on Bare Hill, but all that is now positively known in regard to the same is that the hill was in shape for cultivation when the first settlers came, while all the other upland in town was covered with the forest primeval.
His Brookfield Land.
The first indication we have that Nathaniel Wood had an interest in this section is from a vote taken "at a meeting of the committee for Brookfield, November ye 22nd, 1715" when it was "granted at ye same time to Nathaniel Wood forty acres of upland and twenty of meadow and in case he finds no meadow to have upland equivalent as others have." Later records disclose the information that he selected the forty acres of upland adjoining the Leicester line with the Seven Mile river as its southern boundary and that from this stream his land extended north 165 rods, with 36 rods as the average width. The next we hear of Mr. Wood in the order of time is his purchase of 100 acres of land in Leicester adjoining the Brookfield grant and his settlement on the same. Presumably this was in the summer of 1717, since prior to that time he could have obtained no title to the land, as will appear from the following:
On June 6, 1717, the proprietors owning the undivided land in what is now Spencer, met in Boston and proceeded to draw lots
8
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
of the northern half of the territory according to a plan, a tran- script of which can be found in Draper's History. The two lots 29 and 36 adjoining each other, containing five hundred acres and whose western boundary was the Brookfield town line, were drawn by Paul Dudley, Esq., who thus became the first individual white owner.
PAUL DUDLEY, ESQ. Son of Joseph Dudley, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1701 to 1716. He graduated in 1690 from Harvard College at the head of his class; was Attorney General in 1702 and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
His Leicester Land.
Nathaniel Wood purchased the Western end of lot 36, having the Seven Mile river as its southern boundary. His line on the east is now the site of an ancient stone wall, built probably by Samuel Bemis, as all the stone used appear to have been taken from his land. This wall was laid parallel to the Brookfield line of 1714 and was designed to run due north and south. It is on the western slope of Bemis hill east of the present residence and brickyard of Cyril Coron. Brookfield, being dissatisfied with the
9
NATHANIEL WOOD.
survey of 1714, her selectmen in 1719 caused another line to be run which later was established by order of court. This new line took 17 acres off the Wood farm, supposed to have been in Leices- ter and added it to his Brookfield land. The line as finally es- tablished crosses the Brookfield road near Wood's brook at the foot of the hill east of the Howland farm buildings. From here the land of Mr. Wood extended west about 58 rods, thus including nearly if not all the home farm now occupied by Lewis D. How- land.
His Ancestry.
Nathaniel Wood now being settled in Leicester, it may be well to inquire who he was. His father was Obadiah Wood, who set- tled in Ipswich in 1649 and probably came from England. The name of the first wife of Obadiah was Margaret. She died July 5, 1667. His second wife had a singular name as will be noted by the following inscription on her headstone at Ipswich, "Hazelel- pony Wood, widow of Obadiah Wood died November ye 27, 1714. Aged 78 years. Wright blessed are ye dead who die in ye Lord." Obadiah Wood was a baker by trade and had a license to sell cakes and penny beer. He made his will Oct. 26, 1691 and left an estate of 185 pounds, of which amount Nathaniel was willed twenty shillings. His seal was a coat of arms. His children, probably all by his first wife, were Obadiah, Nathaniel, Josiah, Samuel, James, Joseph, Elizabeth, Mary, Susannah, Margaret and Ruth.
His Children.
Nathaniel was probably born about the year 1657. He mar- ried Lucy -, who was admitted to the Topsfield church and baptized April 30, 1693. Their children were:
Nathaniel Jr., born May 7, 1693.
Lucy Wood her Nath'1 Jr., baptized Sept. 3, 1693. Obadiah, Nov. 1, 1696.
By whom
Lucy, Margaret, baptized Oct. 26, 1701.
presented for
Goodwife Abigail, baptized Nov. 5, 1704. Hepzibath, born July 24, 1707.
baptism.
Lucy " baptized Sept. - , 1707. Mary, baptized July 18, 1708.
Nathaniel "
his Zeruah, baptized June 18, 1710.
From the above it appears probable that when Nathaniel Wood came to Leicester, his family consisted of himself, aged 60; his wife; Nathaniel Jr., aged 24; Ruth, 18; Margaret, 16; Abigail, 14; Hepzibath, 10; Mary, 9, and Zeruah, 7 years of age. No record has been obtained of his son, Obadiah, other than that of his baptism, and it is presumed he died in childhood.
IO
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Comes Near Losing His Brookfield Land.
In 1720 he seems to have been on the point of losing his Brookfield property because he had failed to meet the conditions of the grant which is stated in the records of a meeting of the town committee: "Sept. ye 14th, 1713" when "the committee then agreed that all grants of land hereafter made shall be upon the con- ditions following, viz:
Ist. That they shall work upon ye land granted within six months from ye grant in order to a settlement
2nd. That they shall come and live upon it within a year from the grant.
3d That they shall live upon it three years commencing from the grant
4th That in case the grantees fail in any of ye particu- lars of articles aforesaid then the grants to revert to ye town again."
Admitting his failure to comply with the conditions, Nathan- iel Wood appeals to the voters of Brookfield in open town meeting for a renewal of the giant which meets with favor, although he is deprived of his opportunity to secure meadow land as the record reveals.
Brookfield, Dec. ye first, 1720. Whereas, Nathaniel Wood had a grant made by the former committee bearing date November ye 22d, 1715, and said Wood not fulfilling e conditions of said grant as of record but falling short, but having paid some money towards ye publick charges of this town, we do at a legal town meeting grant to said Nathaniel Wood fortv acres of land; he ve said Wood aquit- ing his former grant and not else and for the confirmation whereof I do set my hand this first day of December, 1720.
In presence of us, witnesses: TILLY MIRICK, PHILIP GOSS.
Nathaniel Wood
Attest,
JOSEPH JENNINGS, Moderator.
To this agreement Nathaniel Wood signed his name, but in all subsequent documents thus far discovered to which his name is affixed, his mark appears, thus indicating impaired eyesight or other physical infirmity.
Moves to Brookfield.
Since the terms of his Brookfield grant demanded that the soil be occupied within one year from the date of confirmation, it is fair to assume that Nathaniel Wood moved from Leicester in the fall of 1721, and became with the exception of being a voter, what all along he practically had been, a citizen of Brookfield. This conclusion is reached because although living in Leicester, he never paid any taxes to that town but did at some time during those years pay taxes to Brookfield. Again he likely would have
II
NATHANIEL WOOD.
been taxed in Leicester if the improvements made on his Leices- ter farm had been of sufficient value to have taken his property out of its probable classification as wild land, and hence untaxa- ble. On the 29th of Sept. 1721, we find him deeding away his Leicester land to his children as will be seen by the following record:
Sells His Land in Leicester.
"Know all men by these presents, that I, Nathaniel Wood of Leicester in the County of Middlesex in the Province of the Massa- chusetts Bay in New England, do for and in Consideration of a valuable sum to me in hand paid by my son, Nathaniel Junior, and for a valuable sum paid to me in liand by iny daughters Ruth, Mar- garet, Abigail, Hepzibath and Zer ia Wood, bargain, sell, alien and do by these presents bargain, sell and confirm unto my aforesaid son, Nathaniel Wood Junior, and my aforesaid daughters all my land lying in Leicester aforesaid excepting my wife's thirds which I reserve for her life tinie which is also by these presents after her dese e sold as the other is now, the one half to my son Nathaniel Wood Junior of Leicester aforesaid and the other half to niy daugh- ters aforementioned as it lyeth on both sides the County Road which goeth to Brookfield, and joyning to Brookfield township line Westwardly, to have and to hold Peaceably and Quietly to Enjoy with the Profit, Privileges and appurtenances, ways and easements " 29 Sept 1721.
On the 30th of December, 1725, he again deeds his Leicester land to his children by a document which is substantially a copy of his deed of 1721; for what reason is not known.
In the Narragansett War.
From records which follow it appears that Nathaniel Wood was a soldier in the Colonial War against the Narragansett Indians in 1675, and in 1728, fifty-three years after the final battle, the colony of Massachusetts Bay fulfilled the agreement made to the soldiers in that war, when before marching to the front they were promised on the plains at Dedham in behalf of the Massachusetts Council that "if they played the man, took the fort and drove the enemy out of the Narragansett country, which was their seat, they should have a gratuity beside their wages." This gratuity took the form of a gift of land in what was then called Narragan- sett Township No. 3 and was located in what is now the town of Amherst, New Hampshire. This grant does not appear to have been of very great value as records later show that in 1736 a one- fourth interest in this tract was sold for $15.25. This was indeed tardy justice, for a majority of those who served in that war were already dead and past need of recompense. In order to bring vividly before the mind the danger and hardships of the soldiers during that sanguinary conflict and to illustrate the value of their services in securing peace and safety to the white settlements, the story of the campaign is herewith annexed :
YE NARRAGANSETT FORT FIGHT IN RHODE ISLAND, DEC. 19, 1675. REPRODUCED FROM AN OLD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORY.
13
NATHANIEL WOOD.
Preparing for the Conflict.
This war, which lasted three years, began in 1675, the first troops being levied on June 24 of that year, when the news of the attack of the Indians on Swansea reached Boston. Rev. Geo. M. Bodge refers to the preparation as follows: " After their somewhat disastrous campaign of the early - autumn of 1675 in the western part of the colony of Massachusetts, the United Colonies, upon information that the hostile In- dians with Philip were retiring towards the south and to winter quarters among the Narragansetts, determined to carry the war against this powerful tribe, who for some time had shown themselves actively hostile. The veteran troops were recalled and reorganized; small towns in various parts of the colo- nies were garrisoned, and an army of one thousand men was equipped for the winter campaign. General Josiah Winslow, Governor of Plymouth Colony, was appointed commander-in-chief of the army; Major Samuel Appleton to the command of the Massa- chusetts regiment, Major William Bradford that of Plymouth, and Major Robert Treat that of Connecticut. War was formally de- clared against the Narragansetts on the 2d of November, 1675, in a meeting of the United Colonies held at Boston that day."
Promise on the Plains of Dedham.
General Winslow assumed command of the Massachusetts forces Dec. 9, 1675; they were drawn up on Dedham Plain, where they were formally delivered to him by Major-General Davison. To the soldiers a proclamation was made at the time on the part of the Massachusetts Council, that 'if they played the man, took the fort, and drove the enemy out of the Narragansett country, which was their seat, that they should have a gratuity besides their wages." On the afternoon of the same day they marched twenty-seven miles to Woodcock's garrison, now Attleboro. In the evening of Friday, Dec. Io, they arrived at Seekonk. From there a portion of the command proceeded by water, the first of the troops "ferried over the water at Providence," and proba- bly formed a junction with the main part of the Plymouth regiment at Providence on the 11th. On the 12th the troops crossed the Pawtuxet river, and reached Wickford on the 13th, where those who had gone by water from Seekonk had already arrived; that day one of the companies captured 36 Indians. At Wickford there was a garrison house, and on the 14th the whole command, excepting one company which was left behind to keep the garri- son, moved through the neighboring country to the westward, where they burned the village of the sachem, Ahmus, destroy- ing 150 wigwams, killing 7, and capturing 9 Indians. Scouting
14
SKETCHES OE SPENCER HISTORY.
in the vicinity was continued with more or less effect on the fol- lowing day. The country through which the troops passed seems to have been pretty thoroughly scouted by the detachments from the main command as it moved, so that on the 15th they had cap- tured or killed 50 persons, and had at that time 40 prisoners. Two days later 47 captives were disposed of. On the 18th the march was resumed, a small garrison remaining as a guard to the supplies at Wickford, and the troops reached Pettiquamscot in the evening, where they found the Connecticut troops, who had pre- ceded them; these troops consisted of about 300 Englishmen and 150 Mohegan Indians. Here the strong stone garrison house, which they had hoped to occupy, was in ruins, having been re- cently destroyed by the Indians; a fact which had been discovered the day before by Capt. Prentice, who had scouted the country in that direction by his cavalry troop. This was a great disappoint- ment, and increased the hardship they had to endure. In a severe snow storm, the whole force of about one thousand men encamped in an open field through an intensely cold night. On Sunday morn- ing, Dec, 19, before daybreak, the whole force marched toward the enemy's stronghold, wading through the snow fourteen or fif- teen inches deep.
The Narragansett Fort Fight.
An account of the battle was given by Rev. Geo. M. Bodge in the N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register for January, 1886, as follows :
"About [ o'clock p. m. the army came upon the enemy at the edge of the swamp, in the midst of which the Indian fortress was built, the Massachusetts troops leading in the march, Plymouth next, and Connecticut bringing up the rear. Of the Massachu- setts troops, Captains Mosely and Davenport led the van and came first upon the Indians, and immediately opened fire on them-thus in the beginning gaining the important advantage of the first fire, which the Indians had almost always gained and made so deadly by deliberate volleys from ambush, as they doubtless purposed now. The Indians returned the fire with an ineffectual volley, and then fled into the swamp closely followed by the foremost com- panies, who did not wait for the word of command, or stand upon the 'order of their going,' until they reached the fortifications within which the Indians hastily betook themselves. This fort was situated on an island of five or six acres in the midst of a cedar swamp, which was impassable except to the Indians by their accustomed paths, and now made passable only by the severe cold of the previous day and night. It is probable that the Indians depended principally on this swamp to protect them, though their defenses are described as having been enclosed, and from a careful
15
NATHANIEL WOOD.
comparison of the most reliable accounts, it seems that the fortifi- cations were well planned, probably by an Englishman, Joshua Teffe, or Tift, as Mr. Dudley calls him. Mr. Hubbard says: 'The Fort was raised upon a kind of island of five or six acres of rising land in the midst of a swamp; the sides of it were made of Palsadoes set upright, which was compassed about with a hedge almost a rod in thickness.'
How the Fort Was Made.
" A contemporaneous writer (whose account was published in London, and is reprinted in Drake's publication called the 'Old Indian Chronicle' ) says: 'In the midst of the swamp was a piece of firm land, of about three or four acres, whereon the Indians had built a kind of a fort, being palisaded round, and within that a clay wall, as also felled down an abundance of trees to lay quite round the said fort, but they had not quite finished their work.' It is evi- dent from these, the only detailed accounts, and from some casual references, that the works were rude and incomplete, but would have been almost impregnable to our troops had not the swamp been frozen. At the corners and exposed portions rude block- houses and flankers had been built, from which a raking fire could be poured upon an attacking force. Either by chance, or by the skill of Peter, their Indian guide, the English seem to have come upon a point of the fort where the Indians did not expect them. Mr. Church, in relating the circumstances of Capt. Gardiner's death, says that he was shot from that side ' next the upland where the English entered the swamp.' The place where he fell was at the 'east end of the fort.' The tradition that the English ap- proached the swamp by the rising land in front of the 'Judge Mer- chant ' house, thus seems confirmed. This 'upland' lies about north of the battlefield.
Pursuing the Enemy.
"Our van pursued those of the enemy who first met them so closely that they were led straight to the entrance used by the Indians themselves, perhaps more by their design then to attract at- tention from an exposed part of their works a short distance away. The passage left by the Indians, for their own use, as before men- tioned, was by a long tree over a 'place of water,' across which but one man could pass at a time, and which 'was so waylaid that they would have been cut off had they ventured.' Mr. Hubbard counts among the fortunate circumstances of that day that the troops did not attempt to carry this point a little farther on. This was at a corner of the fort where was a large unfinished gap, where neither palisades nor abatis, or ' hedge,' had been placed, only that
16
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
the block house opposite this gap and the flankers at the sides were finished, from which a galling fire might sweep and enfilade the passage.
Two Captains Slain.
"It is said that the companies of Captains Davenport and Johnson came first to the place, and at once charged through the gap and along the log at the head of their companies, but Johnson fell dead on the log, and Davenport a little within the fort, and their men were met by so fierce a fire that they were forced to retire again and fall upon their faces to avoid the fury of the mus- ketry until it should somewhat abate. Mosely and Gardiner, pressed to their assistance, met a similar reception, losing heavily, till they too fell back with the others, until Major Appleton com- ing up with his own and Capt. Oliver's men, massed his entire force as a storming column, and it is said that the shout of one of thie commanders that the Indians were running, so inspired the soldiers that they made an impetuous assault, carried the entrance again, beat the enemy from one of his flankers at the left, which afforded them a temporary shelter from the Indians still holding the block house opposite the entrance. In the meantime, the gen- eral, holding the Plymouth forces in reserve, pushed forward the Connecticut troops, who, not being aware of the danger from the block house, suffered fearfully at their first entrance, but charged forward gallantly, though some of their brave officers and many of their comrades lay dead behind them, and unknown numbers and dangers before. The forces now joining beat the enemy step by step, and with fierce fighting, out of their block houses and vari- ous fortifications.
Five Hundred Wigwams Burned.
" Many of the Indians driven from their works fled outside, some doubtless to the wigwams inside, of which there were said to be up- wards of five hundred, many of them large and rendered bullet- proof by large quantities of grain in tubs and bags placed along the sides. In these many of their old people and their women and children had gathered for safety, and behind and within these as defences the Indians still kept up a skulking fight, picking off our men. After three hours' hard fighting, with many of the offi- cers and mnen wounded or dead, a treacherous enemy of unknown numbers and resources lurking in the surrounding forests, and the night coming on, word came to fire the wigwams, and the battle became a fearful holocaust, great numbers of those who had taken refuge there being burned.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.