History of Bolton, 1738-1938, Part 1

Author: Bolton (Mass.)
Publication date: 1938
Publisher: 1938
Number of Pages: 346


USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Bolton > History of Bolton, 1738-1938 > 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 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18


BOLTON


S


:1738


INCORP


R


Gc 974.402 B63h 1253504


500


M. L


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01095 3914


Nor ever wind blows loudly, but it lies Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea.


LORD TENNYSON


HISTORY OF BOLTON N


1738-1938


Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations.


DEUTERONOMY 32 : 7


N M


BOL


INCORP


D .1788 .


RAT


1938 BOLTON MASSACHUSETTS


5.00


1253504


PREFACE


At the annual Town Meeting in February, 1937, a com- mittee was appointed to write a history of Bolton for the celebration of the town's two hundredth anniversary. The committee has been assisted in greater or smaller degree by nearly all the townspeople, without whose aid and enthusiasm the work would have been impossible of accomplishment. Some, however, because of their help in research or composition, deserve the particular thanks of the committee.


Miss Ella V. Barrett, Reverend J. N. Pardee, Miss Hazel M. Randall, Mrs. Ethel M. Wheeler, Mrs. Dorothy Mayo, Mrs. Helen R. Woodbury, Miss Ruth Randall, Philip N. Dow, Henry C. Whitcomb, Miss Lillian Cate, and Miss Frances Ingalls have made valuable contributions to the contents of the book.


The young ladies of the town have attended to the typing of the manuscript, Miss Ingalls having done the greater part of it, with assistance by the Misses Ruea Wheeler, Ruth Randall, Marjorie Pardee, Dorothy Corliss, and Mrs. Mary E. Sprague. Mrs. Esther S. Capron and S. H. Kimmens have contributed photostatic work. To Mr. Lowell T. Clapp we are indebted for the modern pictures. The old ones were loaned by owners too numerous to mention. A number of anecdotes were contributed by Reverend Edwin B. Dolan, while several odd bits of information were sent us by Miss Clara Endicott Sears. Through the


iii


iv


PREFACE


kindness of the Honorable K. P. Aldrich, Chief Inspector of the Post Office Department at Washington, the early records of the local office were secured.


The employees of the Archives Department at the State House, the Registrar of Deeds, the employees of the Regis- try, and Major Pond, Assistant Clerk of Courts of Worcester County, have all been most kind and helpful. Mr. W. I. Dunn, curator of the Holder Memorial, loaned many old documents, particularly those of the Holman family.


The thanks of the committee are hereby expressed to Reverend Frederick L. Weis, of Lancaster, for advice and many valuable suggestions. The fact that he is descended from at least four of the town's early families accounts for the special interest he has taken in our history.


The committee has been constantly astonished at the wealth of historical material available. Twice as much might have been written, if time and space had permitted. However, the committee believe that if, through this his- tory, a true picture of the past has been portrayed, we shall have accomplished the task we attempted, and we shall be satisfied that our work is finished.


ESTHER K. WHITCOMB, Chairman CATHERINE E. NOURSE FLORENCE A. WHEELER SUSAN L. Dow JOHN C. POWERS W. D. S. SHIELDS


TABLE OF CONTENTS


PAGE


CHAPTER


I. HISTORY BEFORE INCORPORATION ·


I


II. GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES 7


III. TOWN RECORDS . II


IV. EARLY MILITARY HISTORY .


24


V. THE REVOLUTION AND THE WAR OF 1812 32


VI. THE CIVIL WAR AND THE WORLD WAR . 49


VII. EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY 62 .


. VIII. THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH 72


IX. THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS


82


X. THE BAPTIST, HILLSIDE, METHODIST CHURCHES, AND - THE FEDERATED CHURCH 90


XI. BURYING GROUNDS IO2


XII. ROADS . II3


XIII. SCHOOLS I20


XIV. THE LIBRARY


I37


XV. OLD HOUSES


XVI. INNS . . 178


XVII. THE STAGECOACH


I88 XIX. INDUSTRIES


192


XX. STORES


· 225


XXI. TELEPHONE AND ELECTRIC LIGHT 228 .


XXII. THE RAILROAD ·


23I


XXIII. ORGANIZATIONS . · 234


XXIV. Two PROMINENT CITIZENS


· 244


XXV. BOLTON TODAY . .


. 266


.


. I42


XVIII. THE POST OFFICE


199


ILLUSTRATIONS


FACING PAGE


THE EARLIEST MAP OF BOLTON, 1794


.


2


THE 1831 MAP IO .


THE 1870 MAP


II


·


·


THE BOLTON TOWN HOUSE


18


THE BOLTON QUICKSTEP .


I9


.


THE OLD HOOK AND LADDER .


19


A BILL FOR THE CARE OF THE ACADIAN REFUGEES


26


"BRAECROFT," BUILT BY CAPTAIN CALEB MOORE IN 1795 42


.


A BOLTON GARDEN .


50


A DEED TO A PEW IN THE MEETINGHOUSE ·


64


THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH, BUILT IN 1793


.


65


THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH, BUILT IN 1928


.


74


THE FRIENDS' MEETINGHOUSE 82 .


·


THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH


94


THE HILLSIDE CHURCH


·


.


95


THE OLDEST PICTURE OF BOLTON


·


95


WINTER SCENE


106


A BOLTON ROAD


II4


·


POND PARK


·


II4


REWARD OF MERIT .


·


I26


BILL FOR TUITION AND BOARD IN THE FRY SCHOOL . I26


.


THE EMERSON MEMORIAL SCHOOL .


I27


THE WHITNEY MEMORIAL LIBRARY


I38


.


A ROOM IN THE WILDER-CLAPP HOUSE


·


I46


INTERIOR OF THE WHITCOMB-MENTZER HOUSE


·


I46


ENTRANCE HALL IN THE WILDER MANSION


·


147


vii


viii


ILLUSTRATIONS


FACING PAGE


STAIRWAY IN THE JOHN WILDER HOUSE


I64


THE HOLMAN MANSION, BUILT IN 174I .


· 165


THE PHINEAS WRIGHT HOUSE


165


THE CAPTAIN SAMUEL BAKER HOUSE


· I74


A BOLTON STREAM .


· 175


DAVID WHITCOMB'S INN .


.


184


THE CONCORD COACH


· 185


THE POLLARD-BACON HOUSE 199 .


CENTURY MILLS


· 199


THE LIME KILN


· 214


SAWYER'S MILL .


214


THE BLACKSMITH SHOP


· 215


CALEB MOORE'S STORE


· 226


THE BRICK STORE


226


THE WILDER-WORTHEN HOUSE


234


A BOLTON GARDEN .


· 235


THE BIRTHPLACE OF GENERAL JOHN WHITCOMB · 247


THE WILDER MANSION


. 255


·


.


.


HISTORY OF BOLTON


I HISTORY BEFORE INCORPORATION


Fond memory brings the light Of other days around me.


THOMAS MOORE


ABOUT 1643, Mr. Thomas King, a trader of Watertown, in company with several others, purchased from Sholan, an Indian sagamore, a tract of land ten miles long from north to south and eight miles wide in the valley of the Nashua. This purchase was sanctioned by the General Court and was known as the Nashaway Plantation. The name was derived from the Indian "Nashawog " meaning "The Place Between" or "Land in the Angle Made by Two Rivers."


A trucking house or trading post for barter with the Indians was soon built by Messrs. Symonds and King on the southeast side of George Hill. The owners of the tract of land were directed by the Court to begin settlement without delay, but for a number of years there was almost no settle- ment. Possibly this was due to the distance of this new "plantation" from the older towns. It was sixteen miles beyond Sudbury and could be reached only by crossing the dreaded Sudbury meadows, which were entirely submerged in wet seasons. The nearest neighbors of the new planta- tion were Groton and Marlborough. To the north and west lay almost unbroken wilderness. Small wonder, then, that settlement proceeded slowly !


I


2


HISTORY OF BOLTON


In 1647, only three permanent settlers, with their families, were living near the trucking house. These were Lawrence Waters, Richard Linton, and John Prescott. By 1653, these three families had been joined by six more, among whom were Thomas Sawyer, Edward Breck, Nathaniel Hadlock, William Kerley, and Ralph Houghton. They petitioned the General Court in 1653 to be incorporated as a town under the name of Lancaster, but their petition was not granted.


During the next year many new families were added, and again the General Court was petitioned to grant the district full powers as a town, as there were then twenty families in the plantation. Among these twenty families were sev- eral whose sons or grandsons, eighty years later, founded the town of Bolton, - John Houghton, John Whitcomb, Stephen Gates, John Moore, and Thomas Sawyer.


One of the orders of the court incorporating the town was "that Sudbury and Lancaster lay out highways betwixt town and town." A road was laid through what is now Bolton ; while it was called a highway, it was doubtless the roughest kind of cart-path, possibly only a bridle-path.


Another order was "that the inhabitants of Lancaster do take care that a godly minister may be maintained amongst them." Accordingly, the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson was settled as the first minister. He was a proprietor by the conditions of the grant, owning considerable land, and was by virtue of his office one of the town's most important citizens.


Although the town had been incorporated, there were so few "freemen" that in 1657 the General Court appointed a commission of three men to order the affairs of the town. Members of the church were the only ones allowed to vote


Carried.


aprender.


1


4


5


8


. l'ex


0


7


+1.68.17. 8. 572.


Z


(2)


d.31.9.4. 934- -


123%


81


THE EARLIEST MAP OF BOLTON, 1794


I. First Parish Meeting House


2. Quaker Meeting House


3. Saw mill


4. Grist mill


5. Lime kiln


6. Fulling mill


7. Saw mill and grist mill


8. Potash works


The reversed inscription at the top of the map reads : "A Plan of the Town of Bolton ... the Centre of which Town lyeth about eighteen Miles from the shire Town of the County, and Thirty four Miles from Boston. . . . Sur- veyed in October and November Anno Domini 1794 - Silas Holman Nath1 Longley, Jun"."


. 1.18.45. 12 1155 1+


2


4


HISTORY OF BOLTON


the garrison on fire. The Indians shot and scalped the men, but about twenty women and children were taken captive, to be held for ransom. These unfortunate captives, without any sort of warm clothing, some of them wounded, were then marched by the savages through the snow and cold of a New England February. They had no food for days and no shelter at night. The wounded died, and some of the weaker ones were mercilessly dispatched by the Indians. Mrs. Rowlandson in her "Removes " tells of carrying in her arms her six-year-old daughter who had been wounded. After a week the child died and the poor mother was thank- ful that her child's sufferings were ended. After almost three months of wandering through the wilderness, some of the captives, Mrs. Rowlandson among them, were ransomed by John Hoar, a lawyer of Concord. As the savages had burned every house in Lancaster, the few survivors aban- doned the settlement. For a few years the town was with- out a white inhabitant.


In October, 1679, the Middlesex County Court appointed a committee to renew the settlement. A new meetinghouse was built in 1684 or 1685, and some of the former settlers returned. After the resettlement of the town, many attacks were made by the savages and a number of persons murdered or taken captive. These attacks were usually on isolated homes to capture the women and children for ransom, or sometimes for reasons of private revenge.


The growth of Lancaster had proceeded so far by 1730 that several sections wished to break away and set up towns by themselves. Numerous petitions for this purpose were presented at town meetings. In 1732, one of these petitions was granted to the people of the northeasterly part of the town, and Harvard was founded,


5


HISTORY BEFORE INCORPORATION


In the next year, 1733, the inhabitants of the south- easterly part of Lancaster sent a petition to the town asking consent to set up a new township. The signers were Joshua Moore, Jabez Fairbank, Jonathan Moore, William Keyes, John Whitney, Jeremiah Holman, Nathaniel Holman, Thomas Whitney, and William Sawyer, and the petition read as follows :


Setting forth the many hardships and difficulties which we for these many years have undergone in getting to the public worship of God and in a peculiar manner in the winter season. These are therefore to request of you that you put it into your next warrant to see whether the town will set off all the inhabit- ants on the east side of the river to be a separate town or pre- cinct, beginning at the Shrewsbury line and so down said river till you come to the Harvard line, excepting the intervale lots of land on the east side of said river.


Unsuccessful the first time, the signers presented their petition again in March, 1735. This time it was granted. An act to incorporate the town of Bolton was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts on June 24, 1738. The act of incorporation is as follows :


An act dividing the Town of Lancaster, in the County of Worcester, and erecting a new town there, by the name of Bolton.


Whereas the southeasterly part of the town of Lancaster is competently fill'd with inhabitants, who labor under great diffi- culties by reason they live very remote from the place of publick worship in said town; and having addressed this court that they may be set off as a distinct township, whereunto the inhabitants of said town, by their vote have manifested their consent, -


Be it therefore enacted by His Excellency the Governor, Council, and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same,


6


HISTORY OF BOLTON


Section I : That the easterly part of the town of Lancaster be and hereby is set off from said town of Lancaster, and erected into a separate and distinct township by the name of Bolton, according to the following boundaries; viz., northeasterly upon Harvard, easterly upon Stow, southeasterly upon Marlborough, southerly upon Westborough, and westerly upon Lancaster, by a line running near a south and north point, paral[l]el with the west line of said township of Lancaster, at four miles distance therefrom, agre[e]able to a vote of the said town, pass'd the first day of March, 1735-


Section 2 : And that the inhabitants thereof be and hereby are vested with all those powers, priviledges, [and] immunities that the inhabitants of other towns within the province are or ought to be vested with.


Section 3: Provided that the s[ai]d town of Bolton be liable and subject to the payment of their proportionable part of the town of Lancaster's province and county tax for the present year, as tho[ough] they were not by this act separated from them.


There has always been much conjecture about the naming of Bolton. In earliest days towns chose their own names, often taking that of the English town from whence the set- tlers had come. After 1725, the Colonial Governor usually inserted a name for the town when he approved and signed the Act of Incorporation. It was customary to compliment men in England who were friendly to the colonies, or to use the name of a particular friend of the Governor.


Governor Belcher chose the name "Bolton" in honor of Charles Powlett, third Duke of Bolton. The city of Bolton, England, where the dukedom originated, is in Lancashire County. Several of the early families who settled in Lan- caster came to Massachusetts from that county, a fact which may have influenced Governor Belcher in his choice.


II GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES


The hills, Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun.


WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT


AN early traveller recorded his conception of the town in this description (Whitney's History of Worcester County, published in 1793) :


The town in general is good land, not level, nor yet has it any very high hills. . .. It is not very rocky, however there are stones sufficient to wall in all their farms. The people raise rye, wheat, Indian corn, barley, oats, flax upon their lands. . .. About half a mile from the center of the town, to the west, begins the great hill known by the name of Wattoquottock Hill, very high; ... On the westerly side of this hill, about half way from its foot to the summit, is a cavity opening to the southwest parallel with the main course of the hill, near the upper end of which is a pool, or small pond of water, known by the name of Welch Pond. This pond is of a circular form about twenty feet in depth, and occupies the space of about one acre. . . . It is supposed to have diminished about one half in depth and circumference within forty years past. People now mow considerable grass, where they went with boats and canoes half a century ago. On the southeasterly side of the hill nearly opposite to Welch Pond, issue a number of rivulets, which soon unite in the lowlands and form a considerable brook, taking a southeasterly course till it falls into the Assabet River, in the northerly part of Marlboro. This brook has water suffi- cient to carry two mills, in the wet season of the year, at a dis- tance of less than one mile from the hill. .


7


8


HISTORY OF BOLTON


At a small distance from the foot of Wattoquottock begins another large hill with a gradual ascent, which extends north- easterly through Harvard. By some this is called Bear Hill and by others Oak Hill. This hill is thought to contain mines and minerals and has, consequently, for a number of years en- gaged the attention of a respectable society of mineseekers ; but their expectations have exceeded their gains; for though its bowels have been explored with much painful labor and sanguine hope, yet the mountain has not even to this day brought forth a mouse. At the intersection between this last mentioned hill and Wattoquottock Hill is a narrow bar of hard land, . . . on each side of this bar is a small piece of low sunken boggy ground in which ariseth several springs soon forming a rivulet each way. That on the northwesterly side runs a northerly course about a mile and a half into a continued increase of waters and empties into Still River, that on the other side forms a brook which flows through the center of the town.


The valley of the Nashua River, known as the intervale, which lies on the line between Lancaster and Bolton, is like the valley of the Connecticut in miniature, dotted with trees of various kinds, and in summer covered with all the products of the farmer in rich abundance. In former times the entire surface of the intervale was covered by the annual freshets of spring and fall. By degrees, the inter- vale lands have been raised by yearly deposits.


The map which accompanies Whitney's History of Worces- ter County records the existence of a large body of water which reached from Still River almost to the Old Common. It was called Long Lake or the Long Pond, the upper or southern end of which was styled in ancient records the Swan's Swamp. In early times, the road from Lancaster to Bolton crossed the swamp on a causeway which has now sunk out of sight. The land has been raised and is now cultivated.


9


GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES


There are two ponds in Bolton, West Pond and Little Pond. West Pond was so called because a West family, in early days, lived on its shores. Little Pond has had two other names. Up to 1790, it bore the original name of "Keys' Pond." On the 1831 map it is called "South Pond," and sometime later it became known as "Little Pond" although it is only half an acre smaller than West Pond.


Several sections of Bolton have for years been designated by names which often amuse strangers. Hog Swamp, a locality near the Hudson-Berlin line, is mentioned before 1700 in Lancaster records of roads. The Pan has a story to account for its unusual name. Tradition says that in early days only one warming pan (some say frying pan) was available in the neighborhood. Whenever necessity arose, this pan was lent from one household to another, thus giving the district its name. The Green, in the northerly part of the Town, received its name from "Fiddler's Green," in front of the old tavern, where, on summer evenings, dances were held.


The story of Sugar Street is interesting. There lived on that stretch of road at one time a man of poor reputation. One day when he was at the village store he saw some loaf sugar, the old-fashioned kind, in large loaves of conical shape. He watched his chance and stole one, which he concealed by putting it on the top of his head and covering it with his stovepipe hat. After he left for home the store- keeper missed the sugar. Putting two and two together, he went to the man's house and somehow secured a confession from him. The story became known, and from then on the road was called Sugar Street.


The name Wataquadock is derived from an Indian word


IO


HISTORY OF BOLTON


meaning "the place of many springs." The Bay Path went over Wataquadock Hill, which was the region of the earliest settlement in Bolton. Many springs and brooks were to be found there, and also many open clearings which were eagerly taken up by the settlers for cultivation. Some of the finest orchards in this region are now situated on Wata- quadock Hill.


Starting at the northeast foot of Wataquadock Hill is another hill somewhat lower, which is now called Vaughan's Hill. While this hill is rockier than Wataquadock, few minerals have been found there. The only hill having a great quantity of minerals is Rattlesnake Hill, in the north- east part of the town, near the Stow line. On this hill is located the lime quarry which was operated in the early 1700's, and which has recently been reopened. In earlier times, an ochre mine was established here. Bolton has about thirty different minerals, all of which may be found on Rattlesnake Hill. The most unusual of these is Bol- tonite, which is found in only two widely-separated places, Bolton and Mount Vesuvius.


HARVARD


LANCASTER


N-


Road


Rattlesnake


Hill


Lime Kilno


School House


School House.


Comb Factors


Groton


Y


Stil


ur


ying Yard


w-Mill


)la


Powder House


Meeting House


Engine House,


South Pond


Meeting House


-House


18 Acres


IN THE


from


in


Commonwealth of Massachusetts.


3


Poor House,


·


School House


School House


IN THE YEAR


1831


Explanation


Roads


=


Turnpike


=


Fresh Meadow & Intervale L VY X


Dwelling Houses


.


BERLIN


THE 1831 MAP OF BOLTON


MARLBOROUGH


County of Worcester &


Road


Mancasitiais posters mb Factory


Bur


Situated thirty one miles from Boston, and eighteen miles from Worcester, the shire town containing thirteen thousand eight hundred & twenty one acres. SURVEYED BY SILAS HOLMAN


Schools


West Rond nga'dover Long


Hill


OF THE TOWN OF BOLTON


Wadaguadoc


House?


STOW


Buryi


g


Ground C


XGrist Mill


ommo


A MAP


·School21 Acres


Grist Mil mi


Hill


.Saw & Grist Milly


0


Friends'.


Meeting, House .


t,


School House


SETEY


Hog Swamp


Y


N


School .[House


Vaughn's Hilly


Long Hill


BOLTON


BERLIN


A


Scale: I's iches to the mile .


1


10


!-


BOLTON RENTRE


.-


P.O.


-


-


-


1


-


--


4.


-


SPECTACLE


THE 1870 MAP OF BOLTON


This is a facsimile of the original map, reduced to half the original size. It is a part of a larger map of the district, hence the title mentions Berlin. The scale of miles given beneath the title is that of the original map. A comparison with the 1794 and 1831 maps reveals an interesting develop- ment of population and roads. Fiddler's Green is shown at top center ; the Pan, right center; Wataquadock Hill, left center; Ballville, lower left; and Fryville, lower center.


III TOWN RECORDS


Let the Work of our Fathers Stand. SEAL OF FIRST PARISH IN HINGHAM 1738


(The First Town Meeting.)


"Bolton, August 14, 1738.


"The inhabitants of said town being mett at the house of Mr. Thomas Sawyer made choice of James Keyes to be their Moderator.


I. Jacob Houghton was chosen Town Clerk & sworn.


2. They voted to chuse five selectmen.


3. They chose, Jacob Houghton, James Keyes, Henry Houghton, John Priest & Capt. Jonas Houghton, Selectmen.


4. They chose David Whitcomb Constable and he was sworn.


5. They chose Josiah Richardson and William Keyes, Survairs of Highways and they were sworn.


James Keyes, Moderator per order Jacob Houghton, Clerk."


1739


At a meeting held March 20, 1739, it was voted to "make a highway rate of fifty pounds and allow five shillings daily, for mans labor till Sept. roth next, two shillings six pence for oxen, and one shilling for a cart"; from that date to the end of that year, the rate was to be, daily, for a man, three shillings ; and for a team and cart, wages in same proportion.


II


I2


HISTORY OF BOLTON


Town officers were chosen at this meeting, and additional offices of tything-man, fence viewers, and hog reeves were filled.


In October 1739, a committee was chosen to furnish the town with a pound, a pair of stocks, a supply of ammunition and weights and measures, according to law. This pound was located near where the Country Manor now stands, and was owned by the town until 1898, when it was sold.


1740


March, 1740, Josiah Richardson was chosen Town Treas- urer. Two constables to serve at different ends of the town, and a sealer of weights and measures were also chosen. Jonathan Houghton and Daniel Bruce were appointed to prosecute for the killing of deer.


1741


March, 1741, the town voted to grant the three assessors ten shillings daily for taking the valuation. Several high- ways were laid out during the following two years.


1745


April 1, 1745, the town line between Bolton and Marl- borough was perambulated. Mr. John Whitcomb was elected to represent the town at the "Great and General Court," and served in that capacity many years.


1753


About 1753, many families deemed undesirable came into town and they were given warning to depart "or suffer penalties of the law." Officers appointed about this time were : surveyor of hoops and staves; sealer of leather ; surveyor of shingles and clapboards ; and five highway sur- veyors to serve different parts of town.


I3


TOWN RECORDS


John Houghton was chosen "to clear the streams that the fish may come up." The offices of fish reeve, deer reeve, and fire warden were then established. Many of the roads were on private land and gradually the town made these into public ways. Most of the taxes were worked out on the roads.




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.