USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Shirley > History of the town of Shirley, Massachusetts, from its early settlement to A.D. 1882 > Part 1
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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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
Gc 974.402 Sh66c 1142269
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01105 4076
(Middlesex G)
Gc 974.402 Sh66c
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofs1883chan
٠
30 DAY BOOK.
Autoglyph Print, W. I. ALLEN, Gardner, Mass.
REV. SETH CHANDLER.
HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF SHIRLEY,
MASSACHUSETTS
FROM ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT TO A. D. 1882.
BY SETH CHANDLER. C
7844Sh C36
IN THREE PARTS.
SHIRLEY, MASS. PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1883.
Press of BLANCHARD & BROWN, Fitchburg, Mass.
20.
Cannes
1142269
TO THE MEMORY
OF THE
EARLY SETTLERS OF SHIRLEY,
TO THEIR
WIDELY-SCATTERED DESCENDANTS,
AND TO
THE PRESENT INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN,
This Volume
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
BY THE WRITER.
-
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
9-14
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
Situation and Extent. Boundaries. Origin. Petition for a separation from Groton. Incorporation. Name. Additions of Territory. First Town-Meeting. 17-25
CHAPTER II.
Soil and Productions. Roads. Rivers and Bridges. .
25-35
CHAPTER III.
Mills. Manufactories and Manufactures. .
35-64
CHAPTER IV.
Schools. Parker School Fund. Libraries and College Graduates. . . 65-98
CHAPTER V.
Burying-Ground. Training-Field. New Cemetery. Hearses. Town
Tombs. Record of Deaths.
99-113
CHAPTER VI.
War of the Revolution and its precursors. Shays' Rebellion. Wars of 1812, and of the Southern Rebellion. 113-140
CHAPTER VII.
Almshouse. New County. Post-Offices. Stores. Railroads. Physi- cians
141-158
CHAPTER VIII.
· Town Hall. Legacy of Hon. James P. Whitney. Donation of Thomas and George A. Whitney. Laying the Corner-Stone. Proceedings and Report of Building Committee. Dedication of the Hall. Village Hall. Liberality of its owner, etc. 158-187
CHAPTER IX.
Town Officers. Clerks. Selectmen. Treasurers. Representatives. Senators. Votes for Governor, etc., etc.
187-198
VI
CONTENTS. PART II.
CHAPTER I.
Early Ecclesiastical Movements. First Meeting-House. Candidates for the Ministry. Settlement of Mr. Whitney. Formation of a Church. Church Covenants.
201-219
CHAPTER II.
Second Meeting-House. Events of Mr. Whitney's Ministry. Enlarge- ment of Meeting-House. Settlement of a Colleague. 219-237
CHAPTER III.
Ministry and Dismission of Mr. Tolman. Death and Character of Mr. Whitney.
237-245
CHAPTER IV.
Shaker Society. Brief Sketch of the Origin, Progress and Faith of the Shakers as a Sect. History of the Community in Shirley. . 245-276
CHAPTER V.
Universalist Society. Rise of Universalism. Formation of a Society. Meeting-Houses. Ministers. Church and Sunday-School. Ladies' Aid Society.
277-288
CHAPTER VI.
First Congregationalist Society. Formation of the First Parish.
Engagement of Mr. Chandler. His Settlement. Change of Hymn- Book. New Bell. Sunday-School. Ladies' Benevolent Society. Alteration of the Meeting-House. Legacy of Thomas Whitney, Esq. Legacy of Hon. James P. Whitney. Church Organ. Removal of the Meeting-House. Other alterations. Benefactions to the Society. Library, etc. 289-310
CHAPTER VII.
Orthodox Society. Church Organization. Meeting-Houses. Ministers.
Miss Jenny Little. Benefactions. Sunday-School, etc. 311-327
CHAPTER VIII.
Baptist Church. Organization. Chapel. Ministers. Too many churches for the population. Conclusion of Ecclesiastical History.
Moral reflections. .
328-335
PART III.
Genealogical Register. 337-693
Appendix. 695-723
Addendum. . . 723
Index of Subjects-Parts I. and II. .
725
Index of Names-Parts I. and II. 729
Index of Names to Part III. . 731
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PORTRAITS.
REV. SETH CHANDLER,
facing title
RUFUS LONGLEY, M. D., . 97
AUGUSTUS G. PARKER, M. D., I53
REV. PHINEHAS WHITNEY, 224
CAPT. ZENAS BROWN,
362
HON. SAMUEL EGERTON, 402
SUEL HAZEN, .
447
THOMAS H. CLARK, . 448
SAMUEL HAZEN, . 449
SYLVANUS HOLDEN, ESQ., .
463
DEA. EDMUND HOLDEN, .
476
OLIVER LAWTON, 498
. 525
ARTEMAS LONGLEY, .
546
SAMUEL PUTNAM, EsQ., .
549
ASA LONGLEY, .
5.50
MRS. LUCY H. GOODRICH, 551 .
MRS. SAMUEL PUTNAM, 552
HALE W. PAGE, ESQ., 570
MRS. BATHSHEBA EGERTON, 643
MRS. HARRIET WALKER GARFIELD, 650
ELISHA GARFIELD, EsQ., .
651
VIEWS.
STABLE AND OFFICE OF GEORGE DAVIS, EsQ., . 40
FREDONIA MILL, 49
PHOENIX MILL, 50.
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES A. EDGARTON, 64
ENTRANCE TO THE NEW CEMETERY, 109
RESIDENCE AND STORE OF SAMUEL LONGLEY, ESQ., I47
TOWN HALL, . $176
SHAKER VILLAGE,-CHURCH FAMILY, 245
UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, 282
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, .
304
RESIDENCE OF REV. SETH CHANDLER, 308
RESIDENCE OF THOMAS L. HAZEN, 450
RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH HAZEN, . 451
RESIDENCE OF MRS. SYLVANUS HOLDEN, 464
RESIDENCE OF THE LATE S. M. LONGLEY, 532 .
FARM RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL LONGLEY, ESQ., 547
THE WHITNEY RESIDENCE, 668
ISRAEL LONGLEY, EsQ.,
:
INTRODUCTION.
"Of all the affections of man, those that connect him with ancestry are among the most natural and generous. They enlarge the sphere of his interests; multiply his motives to virtue ; and give intensity to his sense of duty to generations to come, by the perception of obligation to those that are past. In whatever mode of existence man finds himself, be it savage or civilized, he perceives that he is indebted for the far greater part of his possessions and enjoyments, to events over which he had no control ; to individuals whose names, perhaps, never reached his ear ; to sacrifices in which he never shared ; and to suffer- ings, awakening in his bosom few and very transient sympathies."*
To make a compilation of local annals is a humble employment ; to justly review the occurrences and customs of other times is a difficult task ; and yet it is the way by which to connect the present with the past, so as to give the existing actor an opportunity to understand his obliga- tions to those who shall come after him, by his indebted- ness to those who have gone before him.
Such a review, too, is calculated to awaken gratitude, by impressing the mind with the progress-in the arts and comforts of life-which the advancing ages of civilization
*Quincy's Boston Centennial Address.
2
10
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
have made, and of which . every new generation becomes the inheritor.
Minute local events-which are not of sufficient im- portance to be noticed by the general historian-are the facts upon which general history must essentially depend ; as one has said, "they are the mass of seeds from which the spirit of his narrative should be laboriously distilled." Besides, it is a successful way of perpetuating. the worthy deeds of men who, in every town and small community, have been distinguished for their usefulness, enterprise and valor, yet have not been sufficiently noted to obtain a place in more extended histories.
The lives of useful and patriotic men are none the less valuable, for the comparatively humble walk which they have pursued on earth; for it is the deep and in- creasing respect which crowns their memories that is silently and surely inspiring the masses with good pur- poses, awakening their energy, and exciting them to generous and worthy deeds. The events of a man's life, who has risen to any degree of eminence by the force of his own genius and enterprise, are always interesting and instructive, because they serve as a light and guide to others whose beginnings may be equally unpropitious. Daniel Webster has said, that "nobler records of patriot- ism exist nowhere,-nowhere can there be found higher proofs of the spirit that was ready to hazard all, to pledge all, to sacrifice all, in the cause of their country,-than in the New-England towns."
Such are some of the purposes which town histories are designed to secure ; and, hence, they have been loudly demanded and largely multiplied within the last few years. And, humble and unpretentious as their province is, they should not be slightly regarded, so important are the advantages to be derived from them. It is not, how- ever, to be denied that great difficulties are necessarily encountered in the preparation of these histories. Many of the earlier town records are so imperfect and illegible that they rather perplex than enlighten the understandings
11
INTRODUCTION.
of those who consult them. Tradition is often found too vague and uncertain for confident reliance, and the threads by which the labyrinth of events may be traced are often broken, or irrecoverably lost. And, owing to the necessarily limited circulation of works of this char- acter, the compiler must look for his reward in the reflection that he is performing an act of justice to past generations, and one of usefulness to those which are to come.
Dr. Johnson has said that "incident is the life of biog- raphy ;" it is no less the life of history. There is, how- ever, rarely any very striking incident connected with our town histories. The course of New Englanders has been generally even, quiet, unambitious-their progress gradual and certain. The perils attending the colonization and settlement of our country were not realized, to their full extent, in the inland towns. The soil of many of them was never stained with the blood of Indian warfare; and though the majority of them were connected, in some measure, with the events of the American revolution, the perils of that revolution were confined to a few years, and were borne with fortitude under the comforting hope of ultimate success. Their history must, therefore, be mainly filled with commonplace events, which have been enacted, from year to year, with trifling variation. Indeed, with few exceptions, it may be said of the most of our inland towns, that they have but one history ;- similar trials, efforts, discouragements and hopes, having attended the settlement and growth of them all.
The labor attending such a compilation, and the benefits to be derived from its publication, at best, cán en- sure for it but a limited circulation and a temporary interest. When the antiquarian and the historian shall have noted its salient points, and when the descendants of that ancestry whose names and deeds it records-and of whom little is known, except what has come through the uncertain channel of tradition-shall have devoured its contents, its only place, if not consigned to the fate
12
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY. .
"of things lost on earth," will be to sleep in a dusty niche of the public or family library, there to lie-"unknowing and unknown," like the men whose deeds it records- among things forgotten on earth. But notwithstanding the doom that awaits this class of publications, such are the immediate advantages to be derived from them, that every New-England town will eventually have its histo- rian and its written history.
The plan pursued by different authors, in the arrangement of their compilations, has varied with their varying tastes. Some have strictly adhered to chro- nology, giving each event its place in the order of its time ; others have separated and mingled dates, so as to unite kindred circumstances. Some have filled the pages of their text with literal transcripts from town records, giving explanations in marginal notes; others have abridged and transposed the language of original records, supplied defects, and thus presented the facts of history in their own language.
The method of mingling dates to connect kindred events, and of transposing the language and condensing its facts as they appear in the common record, seems to combine the advantages of all, renders the work more interesting to the reader, and more convenient for refer- ence.
Such is the method mainly adopted in this history. Occasionally a chain of events has been broken to secure a connection of dates, and important records have been literally transcribed, accompanied by suitable comments ; but this will be found the exception and not the rule. To prevent confusion by the intermingling of dissimilar cir- cumstances, the history has been divided into three parts ; under one or another of which all secular and all eccle- siastical events worthy of note,-and all genealogical items, and biographical notices of the early settlers and their descendants, that could be collected,-have been embodied and presented in as succinct and readable form as could well be adopted.
13
INTRODUCTION.
It is the sincere hope of the compiler that his humble undertaking may remain, for a time, among the thousands of similar landmarks, at which the future traveller may pause to contemplate the trials, privations, and moral energy of a people-and their immediate descendants- who left homes of plenty, that, in a wilderness they might enjoy, and transmit to posterity, the noble privileges of civil and religious liberty.
Most of the materials of this history had been col- lected previous to the year 1848; at which time Mr. Butler, having completed his History of Groton, and wishing to append to it a brief sketch of Shirley, obtained the loan of the author's papers for that purpose. It was the intention of the respected author of the Groton history to acknowledge the use he made of these papers, in a note prefixed to the sketch alluded to; but this was omitted by the printer,-whereupon, Mr. Butler prepared the follow- ing for insertion in this place, should the compiler of the Shirley history deem it advisable :-
"Rev. SETH CHANDLER :
By accident, the note I prepared to be inserted in the History of Groton,-acknowledging the use I made of your manuscript in the preparation of that part relating to Shirley,-was not printed. Should you publish your account of Shirley, you are at liberty to make such use of this note as you may please, to show that I have been indebted to you, and not you to me, for the many things which may be common to both publi- cations.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
CALEB BUTLER.
Groton, April, 1848.".
The sources of all quotations made, the reader will find .duly acknowledged ; and no assertion has been haz- arded without good authority as to its accuracy, especially
14
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
when it has come through the uncertain channel of tra- dition.
The compiler would respectfully acknowledge the assistance and encouragement he has received from friends, too numerous to be individually designated. He regards them, one and all, as entitled to his sincere thanks for their courtesy, and hopes they will accept this recognition of their kindness, though offered in a general form. The compilation was attempted at the suggestion of an esteemed friend, and native of Shirley, Mr. George A. Whitney of Boston ; and but for the death of that esti- mable man, would have been given to the world many years since.
To the citizens of Shirley the volume is with diffidence submitted. The compiler lays no special claim to the qualifications which such an undertaking would seem to require. He has related, in a manner as simple and intel- ligible as he could command, the facts deemed most worthy of preservation in the history of their ancestors. To them then, if not to the general reader, he hopes that his labors will present something of interest, instruction and amusement.
PART I.
CIVIL HISTORY.
Squannacoo
TOWNSEND
River
-
Z
OH. Spaulding
0
J.Adams
J. Holland
T
A.M. Holden
DO'Mcely
WWWESTA GROTON
SHartwell
b C.S. Holden.
H Patter
Shop
Chas Andrews
Tarble Est
W. Neat
School
p D.B.Crosby.
innacook
lonbs
HpKittredge
SquO
Rev. C.H.Whitney
T. Gerry
0
JP. Thompson.
O
Mulpus
H.S. Hunc
Win
S.Farnsworth.
s Brook
AJen ki
EL White
David Hartwell
Juna Kiğini
School E
M.Farnsworth
Hopkins DI
T K.Fiske
S. Chiendle
Town Hall.
ASWhite
nan Hulder
CENTRE
SHIRLEY 0
- First Parish Church
atomice
Old Cemetery
D DrHartwell Est
stewart
Boutwell
H. Brownson C
L.Warren
J.R. Holden
S. Longley.
C.Kendall
E.Robbins
[@School
Holden
ALEaton
Dr JO.Parker Est
E B.Wilson & Son
1
Z
DSW Benjamin
E.D.Longley .
5 T. Balcom
P
CW. Lawrencee
French
Divoll A
SDBruc
F. B. White
Z
PPage b Mr. Gram
A Stone
AD POND
SOUTH-
VILLAGE
Catacunemano River
Phoenix Mill
J. Gardiner
CW&JE.Smith
Gr School
L
CA
Fredonia Mill.
Huzen
DETEker
Estole
Bow
& Cider Mill.
SHAKER VILLAGES
-OF-
SHIRLEY.
D N.D.Sanderson
:00000
1883.
LANCASTER.
HARVARD.
Nashua River.
MAP
ER.
C.H. Dodge
Jos. Hazen
Z.Jones. . O.
Like Halden
O young
Farnsworth
O. Sanborn
R
W Might
D.Sullivan g
A Holden
.V. Helden
H S. Hazen C
School.
J. W.Thacher
Chanel
Geo. Farnsworl
hood
Basket Shop. A.White
D Mrs.M. Farmer
PETERBORO & SHIRLEY RAILROAD
Mulpus Brook
po Lanton place
GR
River
arrbonk
E.S.Parker &
Paper mill
I. Griffin
o Wilbur
M.T. GardnerO
FIT
NC Muinson O
O Universalist Church
K Cemetery
Brook.
h S Hazen
L M. Parker
Wilder Dody
FUT Er
CIVIL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
Situation and extent-Boundaries-Origin-Petition for a separation from Groton-Incorporation-Name- Additions of territory-First town-meeting.
Shirley is situated in the northwesterly part of Mid- dlesex County. It is thirty-eight miles northwest from Boston, the capital of the state. It is thirty miles in the same direction from Cambridge, and twenty miles south- west from Lowell, the two shire-towns of the county.
The town is of irregular form, being seven and one-half miles in extent between its extreme north and south points, and but four miles broad at its greatest width. It contains nearly ten thousand five hundred and twenty-five acres, or about sixteen and one-half square . miles, according to the survey made by Caleb Butler in 1832.
It is bounded on the north by Groton, on the east by Groton and Harvard, (from which towns it is separated by the Nashua and Squannacook rivers, which unite on its eastern boundary) ; on the south by Lancaster, and on the west by Lunenburg and Townsend. Harvard, Lan- caster and Lunenburg are in the county of Worcester.
3
18
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
Shirley was originally a part of Groton, which in- cluded a large territory granted to Dean Winthrop, son of Gov. Winthrop, with several others, by an act of "the General court held at Boston the 23d day of the 5th month, 1655." Its location is so far from the center of the above- named territory-the settlement of which at first pro- gressed very slowly, owing to Indian depredations, and to a sparseness of settlers-that it remained an unbroken wilderness for more than sixty years after the grant of the territory of Groton, and until all the settlements of the neighboring districts had successfully commenced. Dur- ing this period the Indian wars of Massachusetts had been waged, carried on and concluded, and enter- prising settlers were encouraged to penetrate and occupy those hitherto wild lands which were to be the future homes of themselves and their children, without the pro- tection of garrisoned houses, and with no fear of surprise from the nocturnal visits of the revengeful aborigines of the soil.
The precise time of the first settlement in Shirley cannot now be ascertained, but it is supposed to have been about the year 1720. The farms first occupied were those on the Squannacook river, and along the northern boundary of the town. The second framed house was erected two miles from what is now "Shirley Centre," at the corner formed by a union of the roads leading from Shirley and Lunenburg to Groton. The population had, however, become sufficiently numerous, as early as 1747, to realize the need of a distinct town organization, and those who most fully recognized this need united in for- warding a petition to the parent town praying for an early separation. The following, taken from the town records of Groton, is a copy of that
PETITION.
"To the inhabitants of the town of Groton, assembled in town meeting on the first day of March, 1747.
The petition of us the subscribers, being all inhab- itants of the town of Groton, aforesaid, humbly showeth,
19
CIVIL HISTORY.
that your petitioners all live in the extreme parts of the town, and by that means are incapacitated to attend public worship constantly, either ourselves or families ; and being sensible that our being set off in order for a precinct will be of great service to us, we desire that we may be set off by the bounds following, viz., beginning at the mouth of the Squannacook river, and so run up said river till it comes to Townsend line, and then by Townsend and Lunenburg lines till it cometh to Groton southwest corner, and so by the south line in said town until it cometh to Lancaster (Nashua) river, and then run down said river till it cometh to Harvard corner, and then about a mile on Harvard north line, then turn to the north and run to the waste brook in Coicors (Canicus or Nona- cancus) farm, where people generally pass over, and from thence to the mouth of Squannacook river, where we first began ; and your petitioners as bound in duty shall ever pray, &c.
JOHN WHITNEY,
PHILEMON HOLDEN,
JOHN WILLIAMS,
STEPHEN HOLDEN JR.,
DAVID GOULD,
WILLIAM SIMONDS,
JOHN KELSEY,
WILLIAM PRESTON,
PHINEHAS BURT,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS,
JOSEPH WILSON,
HENRY FARWELL,
THOMAS LAUGHTON,
ISAIAH FARWELL,
JAMES PATTERSON,
JOHN RUSSELL,
JONATHAN GOULD,
JAMES PARK,
ROBERT HENRY,
DANIEL PAGE,
JOHN WILLIAMS JR.,
JOSEPH DODGE,
JACOB WILLIAMS,
MOSES BENNETT JR.,
WILLIAM FARWELL,
CALEB BARTLETT,
JONAS LONGLEY,
FRANCIS HARRIS,
OLIVER FARWELL,
CALEB HOLDEN,
ISAAC HOLDEN,
HEZEKIAH SAWTELL.
JARATHMAEL POWERS,
33 signers.
"The above petition was read at the anniversary meet- ing in Groton, March 1, 1747, and the prayer thereof
20
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
granted, except the land on the easterly side of Lancaster (Nashua) river, and recorded.
THOMAS TARBELL, Town Clerk."
It is probable that the signers of the petition for a separate town constituted a majority of the voters within its proposed limits, when the petition was presented, and yet it is certain that some of the first families are not rep- resented. Whether they considered the project premature, or had other motives for not sustaining the movement, can- not now be known.
Although, as appears from the action of the town, no opposition was made to this movement of the peti- tioners, yet it was almost six years before their plan of organization was carried into effect. Whether this delay was occasioned by opposition on the part of the minority interested in the proposed change, by legislative refusal, or by indolence and inefficiency in the leaders of the movement, no record or tradition remains to inform us. Whatever the cause, it must have been a discouraging delay to those who were seeking to remove the incon- veniences which they were forced daily to encounter from their location in a remote and comparatively inaccessible corner of the district.
At the January session of the "General Court," in the year 1753, an act of incorporation was passed and approved, whereby the territory became a district and received the name of Shirley, in honor of William Shirley, who was then Governor of Massachusetts Colony .*
By a subsequent act of the Legislature, in the year 1786, all districts which had been incorporated previous to the year 1777 were made towns. In this change Shirley was included.
By an act of the Legislature of 1765, a strip of land on the south boundary of Shirley, lying between Shirley
*See Appendix A.
-
21
CIVIL HISTORY.
and Lancaster,-"being a territory of about two hundred rods in breadth, and extending in length one mile, from Lunenburg line to Nashua river-was annexed to Shirley." This piece of territory has usually been denominated Stow Leg .*
By still another legislative act, passed in 1798, the farms of Moody Chase, Samuel Chase and Simon Daby or Darby-forming a territory of irregular shape, on the east side of the Nashua river-were set off from Groton and annexed to Shirley. The territory as described in the petition for a separation from Groton, together with these two annexations, constituted the town of Shirley until the year 1871, when the last-mentioned addition was severed from Shirley and united with the territory which now constitutes the town of Ayer.
Such are the territorial changes through which Shirley has passed since it became an independent munici- pality ; but such are its present geographical relations to other towns that no further alterations need be expected. t
What the population of the town was at the time of its incorporation cannot now be ascertained ; but the fol- lowing table will show its increase and decrease from the first census year after its organization, down to the last census, that of 1880 :
In 1765-430 inhabitants.
66 1776-704 66
" 1790-677
“ 1800-713
“ 1810-814
" 1820-922 66 66 1875-1352
" 1830-991
In 1840- 957 inhabitants.
66 1850-1158
66 1860-1468
66 1865-1217
1870-1451.
" 1880-1366 66
1
Thus it appears that the increase of population for nearly one hundred years, though gradual, was compara- tively small. The loss of territory by the incorporation
*See Appendix B. tSee Appendix C.
-
.
22
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
of Ayer in 1871 diminished the number of inhabitants,- and this town, in common with other farming districts, has been continually drained of its young men who remove to cities and large towns, preferring these more exciting fields of enterprise to the quiet, though manly and digni- fied pursuits, which the country affords.
There may appear but little hope of much greater immediate increase; and yet it is certain that the water facilities of the town are not all under improvement, and the soil too, if properly cultivated, is capable of double its present amount of production. The location is such as to promote health and favor long life, and such as to in- vite country artisans and men of comparative leisure to make it their place of residence.
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